russia used Kalibr ship-launched cruise missiles for one of its strikes against Ukraine. They were launched from the Caspian Sea area. This is evidenced by the footage that appeared online. The exact date of the footage is unknown, but there is reason to believe that it could have been taken during the recent massive russian attack against Ukraine on July 8, 2024.
It is known that russian occupiers have launched Kalibr missiles from the Caspian Sea only in the first few weeks of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine (from February to the end of May 2022). Then the of the Caspian Flotilla ships stopped launching these missiles due to technical malfunctions.
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The range of Kalibr cruise missiles of 1,500 kilometers allows them to cover a large part of Ukraine's territory. If russians start launching these missiles more intensively from the Caspian Sea, it will be a new strategic challenge for Ukraine.
The question arises as to how many missile carriers russia has in the Caspian Sea, and whether it is possible to counteract them.
According to open source data, the basis of russian Caspian Flotilla's ship composition is made up of three missile corvettes of Project 21631 Buyan-M. Each of them can carry up to eight Kalibr cruise missiles. The total volley is up to 24 missiles.
It should also be noted that at the beginning of May 2024, russians transferred at least one missile corvette of Project 22800 Karakurt from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. This information was confirmed by satellite image. However, there have also been reports that russian Black Sea Fleet has transferred both ships of Project 22800 Karakurt to the Caspian Sea. We are talking about the Tucha and Amur corvettes. At the moment, they have not been formally incorporated into russian Navy.
It can be assumed that these two ships can carry 16 Kalibr cruise missiles. But it is not yet known whether these ships are currently capable of launching missiles.
It is also unknown how russians are currently distributing Kalibr missiles between their fleets. Their average production rate is 25-30 units per month. This affects the frequency with which russian occupiers will be able to use the ships of the Caspian Flotilla to strike Ukraine.
russian missile corvettes in the Caspian Sea cannot be destroyed by Ukrainian maritime drones, as it is impossible to reach this area unnoticed. The only possible option is to strike missile ship base in the Caspian Sea with long-range kamikaze UAVs.
Earlier Defense Express reported that russia had used landing ships to mine Novorossiysk sea port harbor.
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