Terrifying footage shows Russia using incendiary thermite shells overnight as Vladimir Putin makes fresh demands for his forces to seize Bakhmut.
His troops are bombarding the Ukraine army with MZ-21 thermite shells fired from Grad multiple rocket launchers.
These ignite with a blistering combustion temperature of up to 2,700 degrees Celsius, causing horrific fires.
Russian state media has highlighted the use of the thermite - or magnesium - ammunition at Bakhmut and apparently elsewhere in the Donetsk region.
The weapons were used against Ukrainian firing positions, it was reported.
This sinister light show, typical of thermite shells, came as a report said Putin is reported to have threatened to fire his commanders if they fail to secure Bakhmut by the end of the month.
One sick Russian comment said there would be “a disco at the Nazi positions” in Bakhmut.
The taking of this town - known as Artemovsk in Russia - has taken months and is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives.
But the report from Telegram channel General SVR said: “Putin said that if Artemovsk was not completely captured by the end of the month, he would guarantee personnel decisions” - meaning the firing of top brass.
“The president makes such promises quite often, and the leadership of the military bloc is already weakly reacting to such threats.”
Separately, a video showed a new batch of BMP-3 armoured vehicles with additional protection sent to the war by train from Kurganmash factory, part of the Rostec empire.
Putin's latest threats come after it emerged the Kremlin leader is to send school-leavers to war in a desperate attempt to recruit cannon fodder.
The new legislation will see Russian conscripts as young as 18 signed up and sent to the front as part of Russia's regular army.
Hundreds of thousands of raw recruits will be sent to war under the new laws which were rubber stamped this week by Putin's obedient parliament.
Meanwhile, a leaked US intelligence report revealed that Putin has cancer and there are plans to "throw" the war in Ukraine while he receives treatment.
The major international security breach happened last week as a trove of secret files, containing sensitive information about Ukraine, the UAE, South Korea, and Israel was leaked.
Among the information on Ukraine were US estimates on the death toll of both nations, as well as a rumours about discontent in the upper echelons of the Kremlin's war machine.
A top general is planning to "throw", or loose the war on purpose while Putin undergoes chemotherapy.
Russia's National Security Council Secretary Nikoly Parushev and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov are thought to be behind the treasonous plot.
