Ukraine launches first drone attack on Russian warship in Baltic Sea against Buyan-M corvette Naro-Fominsk.

On November 11, 2026, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) conducted a long-range drone strike against the Russian Baltic Fleet’s Project 21631 Buyan-M-class missile corvette Naro-Fominsk near Gogland Island in the Gulf of Finland, marking the first reported Ukrainian drone attack against a Russian warship at sea in the Baltic. Executed alongside coordinated overnight strikes on Russia’s Ust-Luga petroleum-export terminal, the operation targeted a Kalibr- and Oniks-capable surface combatant roughly 1,000 kilometers from Ukrainian territory along key maritime approaches to Kronstadt and St. Petersburg. Finnish and Estonian defense authorities independently detected the incident, with Estonia confirming an explosion and smoke aboard the vessel before it withdrew toward St. Petersburg, though the exact extent of structural damage remains unverified.

On November 11, 2026, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) carried out a long-range drone strike against the Russian Baltic Fleet's missile corvette Naro-Fominsk in the Gulf of Finland, marking the first reported Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian warship operating at sea in the Baltic region. (Picture source: Russian MoD)

Key tactical insights

• The Target: The Naro-Fominsk is a Project 21631 Buyan-M-class small missile ship displacing up to 949 tonnes and measuring 74.1 meters. It is equipped with an eight-cell 3S14 vertical launch system capable of firing Kalibr cruise missiles and P-800 Oniks anti-ship missiles.

• Location & Coordinated Operation: The strike occurred overnight near Russia's Gogland Island (Suursaari)—roughly 40 km south of Finland and 55 km north of Estonia—coinciding with a broader Ukrainian drone operation against oil-export infrastructure at the port of Ust-Luga.

• Regional Confirmation: Both the Finnish Defence Forces and Estonian defense officials confirmed detecting the incident. Estonian Defense Minister Martin Herem confirmed an explosion aboard a Russian warship, which was subsequently observed smoking and heading toward St. Petersburg or Kronstadt.

• Operational Status: While Russian channels indicated the vessel remained capable of moving toward port under its own power, the exact extent of structural damage or crew casualties remains unverified.

On November 11, 2026, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) announced that it had struck the Russian missile corvette Naro-Fominsk in the Gulf of Finland, expanding its campaign against Russian warships into the Baltic Sea, nearly 1,000 km from Ukrainian territory. The attack took place near Russia's Gogland Island, just 40 km from Finland and 55 km from Estonia, during a larger drone operation against the Russian oil-export port of Ust-Luga. Finnish authorities detected the incident, while Estonian officials confirmed an explosion aboard a Russian warship at approximately 05:30, followed by smoke and the vessel's return toward St Petersburg.

Commissioned in December 2023, the Naro-Fominsk belongs to the Buyan-M class of small missile corvettes, which can launch Kalibr cruise missiles against land targets at distances reaching 2,500 km, despite displacing less than 1,000 tonnes. Russia operates five such vessels in its Baltic Fleet, each carrying eight 3S14 vertical-launch cells compatible with Kalibr, Oniks and Zircon missiles. Although the extent of damage remains uncertain, the incident is significant because Ukraine has now targeted a Russian missile carrier operating at sea in the Baltic, far beyond the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, where most of its earlier naval attacks occurred.

Related topic: Ukraine strikes sanctioned Russian cargo ship Lady Mariia with bomber drones in the Mediterranean

The operation began shortly after midnight on November 11, when Ukrainian drones targeted Ust-Luga and other Russian installations during a six-hour attack that continued until approximately 06:00. At 03:30, drones entered Estonian airspace from the direction of Latvia before continuing toward Russia, prompting NATO Baltic Air Policing fighters operating from Ämari Air Base to monitor the incursions. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna established that the drone swarm approaching the Russian warship came from Russian airspace, while Defence Minister Martin Herem confirmed an explosion at 05:30, subsequent smoke, and the vessel's movement toward St Petersburg. Finnish military authorities also detected the incident and maintained surveillance, assessing that Finland faced no immediate military threat.

Gogland Island lies between Finland and Estonia along the maritime approaches to Kronstadt and St Petersburg, through which Russian Baltic Fleet vessels transit between their bases and the central Baltic Sea. The attack therefore occurred in a confined maritime corridor bordered by two NATO countries, rather than inside a Russian naval base or the Black Sea operating area where most earlier Ukrainian strikes against missile carriers took place. The Naro-Fominsk (pennant number 595 and factory/hull number 641), the eleventh Project 21631 Buyan-M corvette, was laid down at the A. M. Gorky Zelenodolsk Shipyard on February 23, 2018, launched on December 9, 2022, and commissioned on December 23, 2023. The vessel measures 74.1 m in length, 11 m in beam, and 2.6 m in draft, displacing 850 tonnes standard and 949 tonnes fully loaded, a difference of 99 tonnes or 11.6%.

Four diesel engines drive two waterjet propulsors, with class configurations using MTU 16V4000M90 engines rated at 3,700 hp each or CHD622V20 engines rated at 3,944 hp each, providing 14,800 to 15,776 hp of installed power. Maximum speed is 25 knots, economical speed 12 knots, and range 2,500 nautical miles, equivalent to 4,630 km or 8.7 days at a constant 12 knots, against a stated endurance of ten days and a complement of 36 to 52 personnel. Its shallow draft permits navigation through coastal waters and Russian inland waterways, allowing movement between connected maritime regions. However, concentrating eight cruise-missile launch cells in a hull displacing less than 1,000 tonnes limits space for fuel, defensive weapons, redundant machinery, and damage-control equipment when compared with larger Russian frigates. 

Why Russia's Buyan-M corvettes are important cruise missile carriers

The Buyan-M carries one eight-cell 3S14 universal vertical launching system compatible with 3M14 Kalibr land-attack cruise missiles, with ranges of 1,500 to 2,500 km, and 3M54 anti-ship missiles; the launcher family also supports P-800/3M55 Oniks and Zircon missiles, although the Naro-Fominsk's actual ammunition load is unknown. Its remaining armament includes an A-190-01 100 mm automatic gun firing up to 80 rounds per minute at surface targets within 20 km, an AK-630M-2 Duet installation with two six-barrel 30 mm cannons, two 14.5 mm MTPU machine guns, and two 3M-47 Gibka launchers using Igla-family short-range air defense missiles. Surveillance and protection rely on the Pozitiv air-and-surface radar, MR-231 navigation radar, MG-757 Anapa-M anti-saboteur sonar, and PK-10 Smely decoys, without the medium-range missile defenses fitted to larger Russian combatants.

Of twelve Buyan-M vessels constructed between 2010 and 2025, five serve with the Baltic Fleet, representing 41.7% of the class and 29.4% of its 17 corvettes. The wider Baltic Fleet inventory includes 56 combat and amphibious vessels, among them two submarines, one destroyer, two frigates, six small anti-submarine ships, eight minesweepers, four missile boats, and sixteen landing ships and craft. The attack against the Naro-Fominsk was the fifth reported Ukrainian operation against a Buyan-M corvette in 37 months, during which earlier attacks focused on different components of the class. On October 13, 2023, Ukrainian SBU and Navy maritime drones attacked a Buyan-M near Sevastopol alongside the Project 22160 patrol ship Pavel Derzhavin, reportedly damaging the missile carrier and interrupting its operations. On April 7, 2024, sabotage caused a fire aboard the Serpukhov at Baltiysk in Kaliningrad, damaging communications and automation equipment.

On August 28, 2025, Ukrainian military intelligence struck the radar and subsequently the hull of another Buyan-M in Temryuk Bay in the Sea of Azov. On October 4, 2025, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces targeted the starboard propulsion machinery compartment of the Grad (575), commissioned on December 29, 2022, while it operated on Lake Onega in Karelia. The November 11, 2026, incident extended this sequence to the Naro-Fominsk and the Gulf of Finland, bringing the geographical coverage of the attacks to the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, Baltic Sea, and Russian inland waterways. These attacks affected communications, automation, surveillance, propulsion, and hull integrity, demonstrating that a corvette can retain its missile launch capacity while losing operational availability because essential supporting equipment is damaged. 

How Ukraine's Ust-Luga drone attack also threatened Russian energy exports

The November 11 operation also targeted Ust-Luga's Novatek gas-condensate processing complex and Ust-Luga Oil terminal using drones operated by the SBU's Alpha Special Operations Center. Five petroleum-product storage tanks with a combined nominal capacity of 150,000 m³ were affected, equivalent to 943,500 barrels of storage volume, although this does not represent the quantity of petroleum destroyed. Additional damage involved a hydrocracking unit, pumping station, tanker-loading berth, storage and transfer pipelines, and petroleum-handling installations, while fires were recorded at the Faktori terminal and Luzhskaya railway station. Russian authorities reported three injured port workers.

Damage to processing equipment can interrupt the conversion of gas condensate and petroleum fractions into export products, while damaged pumps, pipelines, and loading berths can restrict transfers even when storage tanks remain usable. More importantly, Ust-Luga forms part of the Russian industrial and maritime network in the eastern Gulf of Finland, alongside Kronstadt and St Petersburg, combining petroleum-export terminals, railway connections, shipyards, naval facilities, and Baltic Fleet transit routes. The operation therefore affected both Russian petroleum-export infrastructure and a Kalibr-capable warship, although their respective economic and military consequences depend on separate repair and operational assessments. 

How Ukraine's naval strikes have reduced Russia's missile-carrying fleet since 2022

Ukraine's campaign against Russian missile-carrying warships began in 2022, when Neptune anti-ship missiles sank the Project 1164 cruiser Moskva on April 14, while the frigate Admiral Essen was reportedly damaged on April 5 and a frigate was targeted during the October 29 Sevastopol drone attack. On September 13, 2023, Ukrainian cruise missiles severely damaged the Project 636.3 submarine Rostov-on-Don at Sevastopol, followed by attacks against the Project 1239 corvette Samum on September 14, a Buyan-M on October 13, and the Project 22800 corvette Askold at Kerch on November 4. In 2024, Magura V5 drones sank the Project 12411 missile boat Ivanovets on February 1; Ukraine subsequently targeted the Serpukhov on April 7, reported destroying the Karakurt-class Tsiklon on May 19, and announced the sinking of the Rostov-on-Don after another strike on August 2.

The 2025 operations included the Buyan-M attacks in Temryuk Bay and Lake Onega and a December 15 underwater drone strike against a Project 636.3 submarine at Novorossiysk. During 2026, the Project 11356R frigates Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov were attacked together on March 2 and August 12, while Admiral Makarov was targeted separately on April 6 and Admiral Essen on September 9. Across 2022-2026, the chronology includes 20 reported attacks involving missile cruisers, frigates, corvettes, missile boats, and Kalibr-capable submarines, with outcomes ranging from sinking to repairable damage and temporary withdrawal, while their effect on Russia's available cruise missile capacity depends on whether the vessels remain operational, require repairs, or need to be replaced.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.