Direct proof of use
Project 21631 Buyan-M corvettes were used by Russian forces as sea-based Kalibr cruise-missile launch platforms during the full-scale phase of the Russia-Ukraine war. Naval News, citing Russian reporting and Russian Ministry of Defence video, reported that a Buyan-M-class Project 21631 small missile ship in the Black Sea fired eight Kalibr missiles against Ukraine on 28 March 2022.
The reported target was an arsenal at Orzhev, northwest of Rivne, and the source identified the salvo as the corvette's full eight-missile load. The strike claim and target damage came from Russian official statements, while the platform, launch area, and salvo size are the directly supported conflict-use facts.
Sources: Naval News March 2022 Kalibr Salvo
Timeline
The March 2022 Black Sea launch is the clearest public record tying a Project 21631 corvette to a specific Russia-Ukraine War strike. Later public reporting shifted from missile launches to fleet activity and Ukrainian attempts to damage or remove Kalibr-capable ships from patrol areas.
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings summarized the wider pattern in December 2024, reporting that numerous Buyan-M corvettes had been active in the war against Ukraine since 2022 and that two had reportedly been damaged. Ukrainian military intelligence later described a 2024 sabotage operation against the Baltic Fleet Buyan-M Serpukhov, and 2025 reporting described an attributed Ukrainian drone strike on a Buyan-M in the Sea of Azov near occupied Crimea.
Sources: Naval News March 2022 Kalibr Salvo, USNI Buyan Program, DIU Rybalka Operation, Naval News Sea of Azov Strike, Kyiv Independent Sea of Azov Strike
Narrative
In the Ukraine theater, the Buyan-M class's relevant combat role was long-range naval strike. The ships' eight-cell vertical launch system can carry 3M-14 Kalibr land-attack missiles, and the March 2022 salvo showed the class being used from the Black Sea rather than merely listed as a fleet asset.
Subsequent Ukrainian operations against Buyan-M vessels are best treated as interdiction and force-degradation evidence rather than proof of additional launches. In July 2024, Ukraine's Defence Intelligence Directorate said a Russian sailor involved in Operation Rybalka damaged the Project 21631 Serpukhov from inside, destroying communications and automation equipment and forcing lengthy repairs. In August 2025, Ukrainian intelligence claimed that drones hit a Project 21631 Buyan-M near occupied Crimea, damaging its radar and striking the missile carrier; Kyiv Independent reported that it could not independently verify the claim, and Naval News noted that Russia had not commented.
Taken together, the public record supports a narrow finding: Russian Buyan-M corvettes were fielded in the war as Kalibr-capable naval strike platforms, with at least one specific 2022 Black Sea missile launch documented, and Ukrainian forces later targeted ships of the class because of that cruise-missile role.
Sources: Naval News March 2022 Kalibr Salvo, USNI Buyan Program, DIU Rybalka Operation, Naval News Sea of Azov Strike, Kyiv Independent Sea of Azov Strike
