None of the videos said when or where the drones were used. It’s also unclear if they are in fact showing the drones in combat or in testing.
NBC News was not able to independently verify or geolocate the videos due to the lack of distinct geographical characteristics in the terrain.
The molten material has been identified as thermite, a mixture of aluminum powder and iron oxide that, when ignited, burns at temperatures of up to around 4,000 degrees — almost half as hot as the sun’s surface.
“The use of drones to deploy this molten payload is a novel, and fearsome, addition to modern warfare,” Patton Rogers said.
The Khorne Group, an offshoot of Ukraine’s 116th Mechanized Brigade, said in one of its videos that they were “orc burning,” using Ukrainian slang for Russian attackers.
“It’s difficult to hide from thermite,” Patton Rogers said.
Ukraine’s defense ministry would not comment on the use of the drones. The 60th Separate Mechanized Brigade did confirm it was using them.
“Given the entrenched character of the conflict, the deployment of these weapons is likely an indication of just how desperate and brutal the fighting in Ukraine has become,” James Patton Rogers, a drone expert and executive director of the Cornell Brooks School Tech Policy Institute in New York, told NBC News.
Video purportedly showing a Ukrainian “dragon drone” shared Monday on Telegram by Zelenskyy’s chief adviser, Andriy Yermak.Andriy Yermak via Telegram
Drone warfare has been crucial for both sides, and not only on the immediate front lines, but to strike targets deep inside each other’s territory and in the Black Sea.
Judging from the videos appearing online, Ukraine’s innovation appears to work by pouring an incendiary substance, possibly thermite, on Russian positions, said Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, which analyzes open source intelligence.
Although it’s uncertain exactly what the Ukrainian army is using, thermite is an incendiary mixture that burns at very high temperatures, Kastehelmi said, and can lead to severe burns and damage to equipment on the ground.
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