Ukraine's Defense Forces struck a Russian anti-sabotage boat near Kaspiysk in Russia's Republic of Dagestan, along with drone-control points and other targets in the occupied territories, Ukraine's General Staff reported. The strike landed on a vessel class built to stop exactly this kind of attack. It was the fifth reported Russian vessel hit in the Caspian this May.
A boat built to stop this, hit by this
The General Staff said its forces struck a Project 21980 "Grachonok" anti-sabotage boat near Kaspiysk on 17 May and overnight on 18 May 2026. Results are still being clarified, it noted. Boats of this type guard Russian naval bases and counter sabotage forces.
Five boats in a month
The Caspian was a rear Moscow long treated as safe until Ukraine pushed strikes there in late 2024. This was the fifth reported Russian boat hit there in May 2026:
- Overnight on 7 May, Ukrainian forces hit a Project 22800 Karakurt small missile ship near Kaspiysk.
- Overnight on 15 May, they struck a small missile ship and a minesweeper at the Caspian Flotilla's base in Kaspiysk.
- Overnight on 17 May, Ukrainian drones struck a Project 10410 Svetlyak FSB border patrol ship near Kaspiysk, the fourth that month.
Ukraine hits its fourth Russian ship of the mounth in the Caspian Sea, this time an FSB border patrol boat
The same two nights, many targets
The Kaspiysk strike was one of many across 17–18 May, the General Staff said. Ukrainian forces hit Russian drone-control points in several areas:
- Rozdolne and Shevchenko in Donetsk Oblast
- Dvorichna in Kharkiv Oblast
- Kamianske in Zaporizhzhia Oblast
- Karnatne in Russia's Bryansk Oblast
They also struck concentrations of Russian troops in Piddubne in Donetsk Oblast and Olhyne in Kherson Oblast. Follow-up assessments confirmed earlier hits:
- A 17 May strike on a communications hub in Myrne in occupied Crimea
Russian air-defense crews are now the hunted as Ukraine bolts rocket pods to its long-range drones
- A 17 May strike on a Tor-M2 air-defense system in Zakhidne in occupied Luhansk Oblast
- A 17 May strike on a fuel-and-lubricants train in Fedorivka in occupied Donetsk Oblast
- A 16 May strike on the Yeysk airfield in Russia's Krasnodar Krai that destroyed a Ka-27 helicopter and a Be-200 maritime patrol aircraft
- A 16 May strike on an airspace-monitoring station in Liesnoi in Bryansk Oblast
