Caspian Sea No Longer Safe Haven as Russian Kalibr Carrier Destroyed

Satellite imagery has confirmed the destruction of the Project 22800 Karakurt class small missile ship Tucha during a Ukrainian strike on the Russian Federation’s naval base in Kaspiysk.

This was reported by the OSINT project Exilenova+, which released a satellite image confirming the strike on the ship.

This refers to the strike that the Ukrainian Defense Forces carried out on the night of May 7 against targets of the Russian Federation’s Caspian Flotilla and naval infrastructure in the port of Kaspiysk.

The target was the small missile ship Tucha, which carries Kalibr and Onyx cruise missiles.

The ship joined the Caspian Flotilla only in 2024, becoming one of the Russian Federation’s new carriers of long-range missile weapons.

The published image shows damage in the area of the ship’s bridge, where, according to preliminary data, a Ukrainian strike drone struck.

If this section were damaged, the ship could lose its fire control system, navigation equipment, and the ability to prepare flight missions for launching cruise missiles.

Local residents also reported after the attack that Russian air defenses attempted to shoot down unidentified aerial targets over the port area from the sea.

Project 22800 Karakurt

Designed as a compact platform for high-precision missile weapons, capable of using Kalibr missiles for long-range strikes.

Small missile ship Tucha

• Project: 22800 Karakurt
• Fleet: Russian Federation Caspian Flotilla
• Commissioned: 2024
• Armament: UKSK 3S14 launcher for Kalibr/Onyx (and potentially other compatible ones)
• Displacement: ~800 tons
• Length: approx. 67 m
• Speed: up to ~30 knots

The destruction of the Tucha demonstrates the vulnerability of even remote elements of Russian naval infrastructure to Ukrainian long-range strike assets.

This also means that Russia can no longer consider the Caspian region a secure rear area for deploying cruise missile carriers.

Earlier, footage from local residents near the Kaspiysk base appeared online, clearly showing flashes in the port.

In addition, a few days ago, Militarnyi already reported on the destruction of a small missile ship and a minesweeper at the Kaspiysk base.