Russian thermite 'dragon drone' destroyed over Kostiantynivka
Reported as a Russian Molniya UAV with a thermite mixture in the sky over Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region (Photo: Video screenshot / Predator Brigade / Facebook)
A Russian drone capable of burning through anti-drone nets and defensive positions with a thermite mixture was spotted and destroyed over Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast, the Khyzhak Brigade of Ukraine’s Patrol Police Department said on Facebook, publishing a video of the incident.
The unit said the Russian “dragon drones” are Molniya UAVs equipped with thermite mixture.
A soldier from the Khyzhak Brigade’s mobile fire group, callsign Django, detected one of the drones in the sky over Kostiantynivka during combat duty.
“At first, I didn’t understand what it was. We thought it was phosphorus. It was burning and leaving a trail behind it. I had never seen anything like that before. I decided to shoot,” Django said, according to the brigade.
He first shot off the drone’s suspended incendiary payload and then destroyed the UAV itself, the unit said.
Ukraine’s Defense Forces are repelling constant Russian attempts to infiltrate and gain a foothold on the outskirts of Kostiantynivka, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said on May 2. Counter-sabotage operations are ongoing in the city, he added.
Ukrainian forces are carrying out a set of active measures to detect and destroy Russian troops in the area, Syrskyi said.
Russian forces were seeking to capture the cities of Druzhkivka, Kostiantynivka and Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast by the end of April 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on April 10.
Russian troops continue attempting to advance and intend to seize not only Donbas but all of Ukraine, Syrskyi said on April 22.
Fighting with Russian troops is taking place on the outskirts of Kostiantynivka, and Russian forces managed to take control of an area about one kilometer, or 0.6 miles, from the city’s southern outskirts, Reuters reported on May 2.
Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War stressed that although Western media have reported fighting reaching the outskirts of Kostiantynivka — one of Donbas’ fortress cities — Russian troops first penetrated the area in the fall of 2025 but have failed to make significant progress since then.
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