Ukrainian Forces Hit Russian Buyan-M Ship, Quarter of Fleet Already Damaged
Another successful strike by Ukrainian forces hit the Russian small missile ship Buyan-M, which carries Kalibr cruise missiles; one quarter of such ships in the Russian fleet have now been damaged in the full-scale war.
The Gaze reports on it, referring to the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR) and Unian.
According to the Intelligence report, on August 28, 2025, during a joint operation by the Active Operations Department of the HUR and the Main Intelligence Directorate's special forces unit “Primary,” the small missile ship Project 21631 Buyan-M, which was equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles, was hit.
The special unit “Primary” struck the ship's radar with an aerial drone, temporarily disabling it, while fighters from the Department of Active Operations of the HUR attacked the Kalibr carrier itself.
As a result of the coordinated actions of Ukrainian special forces, the Russian ship, which was in the potential missile launch zone in the Temryuk Bay, suffered serious damage and was forced to leave the combat duty area, losing the ability to perform combat tasks.
It should be noted that the small missile ships of the Buyan-M project are modernized combat ships with a displacement of up to 949 tons, 74 meters long and 11 meters wide, capable of speeds up to 46 km/h and covering distances of up to 2,500 sea miles (4,630 km).
Since the start of the full-scale war, there have been three known cases of successful strikes against Buyan-M series ships. The first occurred in June 2022 on the Volga River, when one ship, presumably the Veliky Ustyug, was damaged and towed away for repairs.
The second case took place on April 7, 2024, at the naval base in Baltiysk, when a fire broke out on the Serpukhov ship, destroying its onboard communications and automation equipment; the fire was started by one of the crew members who defected to Ukraine.
The third incident happened on August 28, 2025, in the Sea of Azov.
As of today, Russia has 12 Buyan-M class ships in its navy, one of which has not yet been officially commissioned. Thus, three of the already active ships in this series — about a quarter of the total — were damaged during the full-scale war.
The Gaze previously informed that Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian oil refineries has knocked out a sizeable portion of the country’s processing capacity, triggering gasoline shortages and record-high wholesale prices.