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Ukraine Strikes Russian Missile Corvette 1,000 km Inside Homeland in Bold Lake Assault
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![Photo of Ivan Khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO) have struck a Russian Buyan-M class missile ship named Grad in the internal waters of Karelia, according to the SSO on October 4.
The operation reportedly took place at 04:31 a.m. in Lake Onega—a large inland body of water located within the Republic of Karelia in northwestern Russia.
The strike hit the starboard side of the vessel’s engine compartment, causing critical damage and significantly reducing its maneuverability and combat capability, the SSO said.
According to Ukrainian military reports, Grad was moving from the Baltic Sea toward the Caspian Sea, likely to reinforce the southern fleet of the Russian Navy. The route crosses Russia’s internal waterways, linking the Baltic and Caspian basins through lakes and canals.
The ship belongs to Project 21631 (Buyan-M class), a series of small missile corvettes designed for shallow-water operations but armed with long-range Kalibr-NK cruise missiles.
Grad was commissioned into the Baltic Fleet on December 29, 2022, and is considered one of the newest ships of its type in the Russian Navy.
Open-source data shows that the Buyan-M corvettes measure approximately 75 meters in length and 11 meters in width, with a top speed of 25 knots (46 km/h) and a range of up to 2,500 nautical miles. Each vessel carries a crew of 52 and can operate autonomously for ten days.
The ships are equipped with a 100 mm A-190 naval gun, Gibka launchers for Igla surface-to-air missiles, and the AK-630-2 Duet close-in weapon system. Their main strike weapon is the Kalibr cruise missile, capable of engaging land and sea targets at long range.
“The Special Operations Forces continue to carry out asymmetric and sensitive actions to stop the enemy,” the SSO said in its official statement. Further details of the operation are being clarified.
Earlier, Russia relaunched the Strelok, an upgraded Tarantul-class corvette built from a 1990s hull under Project 12418.
The vessel now carries Kh-35 “Uran” anti-ship missiles, new diesel engines, updated radar and electronic warfare systems, and close-in guns—reflecting Moscow’s strategy of modernizing older ships to boost its coastal strike capacity more quickly and cheaply than building new ones.
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-24ca8683eb01b729cd8fae98f952003a.jpg "Ukrainian Ratel-S drone equipped with a downed Shahed warhead. (Source: omelyanovi4/Instagram)")