Ukraine’s FPV Drones Just Set a World Record by Striking a Buyan-M Corvette
A First in Naval Warfare
On August 28, 2025, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence and Special Operations Forces pulled off something no one has ever done before: they struck a Russian warship with an FPV drone, at a range of over 350 kilometers.
Let that sink in. (Wocka, Wocka)
Not a Magura naval drone. Not a cruise missile. A hobbyist-style quadcopter turned naval executioner, and it tagged the Buyan-M, a Russian corvette armed with Kalibr cruise missiles, in the Azov Sea near Temryuk Bay.
For the record books, this was the first confirmed FPV strike on a military ship of that size anywhere in the world.
It’s worth noting that Ukraine has been credited with numerous battlefield firsts since 2022. Several of my headlines on this very platform reveal as much.
Up until now, FPVs have chewed up tanks, bunkers, and the occasional Russian soldier dumb enough to be smoking outside his trench. But a Kalibr-launching warship? That is another level entirely.
The Buyan-M is one of Russia’s prized toys. It is a 950-ton missile corvette, small enough to slip into rivers yet armed with Kalibr cruise missiles that can strike targets up to 2,500 kilometers away.
Moscow markets it as a flexible, modern combatant, a ship that can punch above its weight and deliver long-range firepower from the safety of coastal waters.
In practice though, the Buyan-M is a study in overconfidence.
Its hull design favors riverine and littoral operations, which means it was never intended to slug it out in open seas under drone-saturated skies. Think of it as a missile truck wearing a thin metal raincoat; lethal at a distance but vulnerable once anything gets close.
The class was originally meant for the Caspian and Black Sea fleets, where Russia assumed NATO’s presence would be minimal and threats limited.
But the war in Ukraine has exposed how fragile these ships really are.
They rely heavily on sensors like the MR-352 “Positiv” radar and close-in systems such as the AK-630 Duet to keep them alive. Once those fail, the ship is effectively defenseless, a floating magazine of explosives waiting to be lit.
Even its name betrays its limits. The “Buyan” (шумный нарушитель спокойствия) roughly translates to “rowdy troublemaker” in Russian folklore, but so far, the only thing rowdy about it is the plume of smoke it produces when a Ukrainian drone makes contact.
If the Moskva was Russia’s Titanic moment, the Buyan-M is its dinghy with delusions of grandeur.
Blind, Deaf, and Useless
A warship without working sensors is not a warship at all; it is just an expensive barge with delusions of grandeur.
For the Buyan-M, the failure of its radar and electronic suite during the Ukrainian FPV strike is not a minor glitch; it is a death sentence. Modern naval combat is not about who has the biggest gun; it is about who can see, track, and react first. Without its MR-352 radar feeding targeting data, the Buyan-M was stumbling around the Azov like a drunk sailor after shore leave.
The AK-630 Duet close-in weapons system is theoretically capable of shredding drones, missiles, or even low-flying aircraft.
But like every CIWS, it is only as good as the data piped into it. If the radar never sees the target, the Duet is just an intimidating piece of deck art. This is exactly what played out… the Buyan-M’s defenses stayed silent, not because they chose restraint, but because they were blind to the threat.
To make matters worse, Russian sailors have a long history of treating maintenance like it is optional.
Radars that should be regularly calibrated are instead left to corrode. Software patches that should be applied are often delayed or ignored. Add in the chronic shortages of spare parts, and the result is a navy whose ships are often blind, deaf, or both.
Against NATO, that is embarrassing.
Against Ukraine’s drone corps, it is fatal.
When your enemy can hit you with what is essentially a souped-up hobby drone at 350 kilometers, being sensor-blind means you do not even get to fight back. You just watch the incoming feed on Telegram as your ship smokes in the harbor and wonder why the Kremlin told you everything was “under control.”
Paper Tigers of the Russian Navy
The Buyan-M’s humiliation is not an isolated event. It is the latest entry in a tragicomedy of Russian naval failures stretching back years.
Take the Moskva, the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship, for example. It was supposed to be bristling with radar arrays and layered defenses. In theory, it could fend off swarms of missiles. In reality, it was sunk by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles while its radars were either offline or inattentive.
The crew barely had time to abandon ship before their “pride of the fleet” became an artificial reef.
Then there was the Ivanovets, a Tarantul-class missile corvette. Officially, it had the firepower to threaten NATO frigates. In practice, a swarm of Ukrainian Magura V5 naval drones turned it into flaming scrap.
Its sensors never picked up the threat until the first drone had already carved a hole in its hull. This was not stealth technology at work, just Russian negligence and outdated electronics.
Even the mighty Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s only aircraft carrier, cannot escape this pattern. While technically not sunk, it has spent more time in dry dock than at sea, thanks to chronic engine failures and onboard fires.
Its radar and aviation systems are so unreliable that Western analysts joke it poses a bigger danger to its crew than to NATO.
What ties these failures together is not bad luck, but systemic rot.
Maintenance corners cut, parts shortages ignored, and sailors poorly trained. The Buyan-M’s radar blackout during the FPV drone strike is not shocking at all when you see the bigger picture. The Russian Navy’s “modern” surface fleet is essentially a collection of Cold War hulls patched together with whatever parts the Kremlin can source, usually from countries that sell knockoff toasters on AliExpress.
Ukraine’s drone strike exposed a fleet-wide vulnerability. These ships look fierce on parade day, lined up in Sevastopol with their missile tubes glinting in the sun. But when the shooting starts, they are just floating coffins waiting for their turn to meet the bottom.
HUR’s Ever-Expanding Arsenal
When you think “Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR),” think less James Bond and more “DIY defense innovation,” fueled by necessity, ingenuity, and a healthy dose of Russian misfortune. What they’ve built under the radar, sometimes literally, is an arsenal that would make Cold War spooks nod in grudging respect.
Magura Naval Drones: The Black Sea Executioners
At the forefront are the Magura series of naval unmanned surface vessels (USVs), the maritime drone fleet that has savaged Russian shipping around Crimea. I’ve also written about these bad boys numerous times.
The baseline Magura V5 is sleeker than your average remote-controlled boat, packing explosive charges and even R-73 “Sea Dragon” missiles.
Think drone meets speedboat, and Russia’s corvette named Ivanovets learned that the hard way. HUR didn’t stop there. They rolled out the Magura V6P and Magura V7, with the latter upgraded to mount AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles (air-to-air tech, on a boat!). In one limited showing, Ukraine unveiled replicas of the V5, V6P, and V7 in a museum setting.
The 385th USV Brigade: Piloting Sea Killers
Supporting this maritime mayhem is the 385th Naval Unmanned Surface Vehicles Brigade, Russia’s beach nightmare made real. Established in August 2023, it’s staffed by HUR and Navy USV operators. These are the sailors who didn’t get cannonballs; they got remote controls and killed patrol ships and tankers instead. Yeah, we said it, “sailors.”
Liut Ground Killers & the Punisher Airborne Avenger
On land, HUR has Liut, the “Fury” ground drone, which roams Ukrainian territory hunting Russian positions with machine guns. It’s not your average iRobot; this one goes out shooting.
Then there’s the Punisher, a UCAV born from combat veterans and funded partially by civilians. Since 2016, it’s been doing everything: recon, rescue, bombing runs, and even psychological warfare infiltration, all in one tidy kit.
A Russian corvette might not seem like the most strategic target. But the symbolism here is massive.
First, it proves that Russia’s naval air defenses are fundamentally broken.
Second, it shows that Ukraine can reach deep into Russian-controlled waters and make the Black Sea feel unsafe for any ship unlucky enough to float there.
Third, it reinforces the narrative that Western weapons plus Ukrainian ingenuity equals Russian regret.
Most importantly, it sets a precedent. If FPVs can hit a Kalibr-launching warship, what is stopping them from tagging oil tankers in port, or logistics vessels ferrying supplies to Crimea? Suddenly, Russia’s rear areas and waterways look a lot less secure.
Russia’s naval doctrine relies on projecting power across the Black Sea. Instead, it is projecting smoke plumes and excuses. A navy that cannot stop $200 drones is not a navy. It is a collection of floating coffins waiting for their turn.
Mark this down: August 28, 2025, is the day naval warfare changed again.
Just as torpedoes ended the age of the battleship and aircraft carriers dethroned battleships, Ukraine’s $200 drone has just opened the book on a new era where no ship, no matter how bristling with weapons, is safe from a quadcopter piloted by a 20-year-old soldier with Xbox reflexes.
Russia may scoff, but history will remember this differently.
The first FPV strike on a warship was not carried out by Moscow, Beijing, or Washington. It was carried out by Ukraine, with the world watching.
Слава Україні!
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Wes, the story here seems--at least in part--to be about systemic incompetence when it comes to sensor discipline. Does the Ukraine's military drone industry emerge from this war as one of the best on the planet? Or would things look different against Chinese sensor fusion and defence, or American systems discipline, for that matter? What does the arms race look like in 20-40 years? We're trying to imagine the future of drone war...would welcome your expert analysis/vision. (if you've already hit this in an article and we missed it...apologies).
Many thanks for this, Wes. Your work is invaluable to authors grappling with near-future science fiction.