On Telegram, images of drones spitting flames to track down the enemy are circulating and raising fears of atrocities. These devices launch thermite, a molten metal that burns everything at more than 2,000 degrees Celsius.
For the past few days, videos of the war in Ukraine have been causing fear. They show a grove of trees reduced to ashes by a drone spitting flames. These drones carry canisters filled with thermite to project a continuous flow of this product. A novelty that the Ukrainian and Russian military are arguing over on the social network Telegram.
According to the site Defense Expressthe video was made by “a drone operator from the No Chance assault drone unit, which belongs to the 108th Independent Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces.” The operation allegedly took place north of the village of Ukrainske, Zaporizhia region.
As noted in an article published by Kyiv Independent, both armies “claim paternity of this terrifying drone innovation.” It is about creating a psychological shock to frighten the adversary and make him flee at the approach of a drone.
A molten metal at 2,500 degrees Celsius
The term “terrifying” is not an exaggeration. Thermite is a product composed of a mixture of aluminum powder and oxidant that is projected onto the areas to be destroyed. As with the white phosphorus used by the Russian army in Ukraine, everything ignites on contact with it without the possibility of extinguishing the fire. Even in water, thermite continues to burn.
“When it ignites, a self-sustaining exothermic reaction occurs creating molten metal at a temperature of 4,500°F (2,500°C),” says Osint Uri Kikaski.
For comparison, molten lava reaches a temperature half as high. Thermite is so hot that it melts even the armor of tanks.
The use of thermite is not a first. This incendiary product was already used by the Ukrainian army in January 2024, but in the form of mini bombs dropped by drones on armored vehicles. But this is the first time that videos show that this product can be projected by a moving drone burning everything in its path.
These fire-breathing drones are on the level of the thermobaric bombs used by the Russians. These warheads contain a powder that ignites on contact with air, sucking oxygen from a wide area wherever there is any, even in the human body. The temperature then rises to nearly 3,000 °C. Nothing survives.
Troops caught under this fire have no chance of escape unscathed. Even at a distance, the toxic fumes cause “inflammation of the respiratory tract, infection, extreme dehydration and organ failure (…) at the time of the attack, and in the weeks, months and even years that follow,” according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on incendiary weapons, which also mentions psychological trauma.
Limit the use of incendiary weapons
The use of these weapons is regulated by Protocol III of the United Nations Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Weapons. But for HRW, this text has “two shortcomings that have undermined its effectiveness.”
First, Protocol III “excludes most general-purpose incendiary munitions.” It does not cover munitions, such as white phosphorus, which are “primarily designed to create smoke screens or signal troops, but which have the same cruel incendiary effects.”
The text also prohibits the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons in civilian areas, but includes reservations about those launched from the ground. “This arbitrary distinction ignores the fact that incendiary weapons cause horrific burns and destructive fires, regardless of how they are delivered,” deplores an HRW report.
