Direct proof of use
The Dyugon-class Project 21820 landing craft appears in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War record through open-source naval reporting from the Snake Island campaign in the full-scale invasion phase. Naval News reported that a slightly larger Pr.21820 Dyugon-class landing craft was observed next to Snake Island on 2022-05-09 and assessed that it was likely trying to deliver another SA-15 Tor air-defense system.
The War Zone later reported Planet Labs satellite imagery from 2022-06-10 showing a Russian Dyugon-class Project 21820 landing craft about 1.7 miles south of Snake Island with what appeared to be a Tor surface-to-air missile system on deck. The report noted uncertainty over whether the Tor system was operating from the craft or being transported to or from the island, but treated the craft's location and Russia's broader practice of putting Tor systems in maritime positions as evidence of a mobile air-defense role.
Sources: Naval News Snake Island Naval Operations, Snake Island Reinforced By Russia With Additional Surface-To-Air Missiles
Timeline
The first dated Dyugon-specific observation located for the conflict is 2022-05-09. Naval News placed the craft next to Snake Island two days after Ukrainian drone strikes against a Project 11770 Serna-class landing craft that had been trying to land a Tor system, describing the later Dyugon appearance as another apparent attempt to sustain the island's air defenses.
On 2022-06-10, The War Zone reported satellite imagery of a Dyugon south of Snake Island with a Tor-family system on deck. The imagery came after Russia had reinforced the island with additional short-range air defenses and after repeated Ukrainian strikes made static air-defense equipment on the island vulnerable.
Sources: Naval News Snake Island Naval Operations, Snake Island Reinforced By Russia With Additional Surface-To-Air Missiles
Operational role
In the documented Snake Island episodes, the Dyugon was used as a Russian naval mobility and force-protection platform rather than as a conventional beach-assault craft. Its wartime role was tied to the movement or possible shipboard positioning of Tor-family short-range air-defense systems around a small occupied island that had come under Ukrainian air and drone attack.
Naval News framed the Dyugon appearance within a shift away from larger Russian landing ships near Snake Island after the sinking of Moskva and the growing threat from Ukrainian aircraft and drones. The same report said smaller Dyugon and Serna landing craft were being used around the island after larger Ropucha-class landing ships became less visible there.
The strongest evidence supports Russian fielding of the Dyugon in the Snake Island area and its connection to Tor-family air-defense logistics or mobile air-defense positioning. The sources do not establish a broader amphibious landing operation by the class in the war, nor do they conclusively prove that the Tor vehicle seen on 2022-06-10 was actively engaging targets from the deck.
Sources: Naval News Snake Island Naval Operations, Snake Island Reinforced By Russia With Additional Surface-To-Air Missiles
