The landscape is littered with man-made belts of forestry – which were planted as windbreaks to prevent topsoil and newly sown seeds being blown away – that separate vast agricultural fields.

They serve as perfect areas of cover to defend against armies attempting to advance across wide, open fields.

Open intelligence researchers geolocated the footage of the thermite-laden drone to a treeline in Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia, near the village of Ukrains’ke.

Competing claims 

In one report, the drone’s use was attributed to a company of Ukraine’s 108th Territorial Defence Brigade.

Rybar, a prominent Russian military blogger, also claimed credit for the weapon in a social media post.

The Telegraph could not verify either of the claims.

The footage was, however, the first time a drone had dropped thermite on an entire treeline.

Ukrainian forces have previously dropped thermite munitions through the hatches of abandoned Russian armoured vehicles and tanks to destroy them.