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During the International Maritime Defence Show in Saint Petersburg on June 28, 2017, a crew member stood on the deck of the Russian Navy's Buyan-class missile corvette Serpukhov. Ukrainian media recently reported that Serpukhov caught fire and sustained "significant damage" in the Baltic Sea on April 8, 2024. An anonymous Ukrainian security source cited by RBC Ukraine on Monday stated that Russia's Serpukhov small missile ship was significantly damaged by a fire in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.
A report by Kyiv Post attributed the incident to a Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) operation, citing an unnamed security services source. The source mentioned that "Repairs will take a long time."
The HUR later claimed responsibility for the fire, posting a video to its Telegram channel purporting to show the setting of a fire inside the Serpukhov and claiming that the vessel had been "disabled." The post added: "Due to the fire inside the rocket ship, its means of communication and automation were completely destroyed."
Newsweek has not been able to independently corroborate the report and has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries by email to request comment.
The Buyan-M class corvette features stealth technology and a vertical launching system for either Kalibr or Oniks anti-ship cruise missiles, both of which have been used in Moscow's nationwide bombardment of Ukraine. The Buyan-M class is designed for operation in relatively shallow coastal regions or inland waterways.
In 2016, the Serpukhov launched Kalibr missile strikes against Islamist militants in Syria from the Mediterranean Sea before being deployed to the Baltic Sea area later that year.
Russian state media reported in September 2023 that the Serpukhov successfully launched a cruise Kalibr missile in the White Sea, hitting a "coastal target."
The Baltic Sea has become a key area of competition between Russia and NATO amid increasing tension. Kaliningrad, a key Russian outpost in the Baltic Sea, hosts significant conventional military strength.
Kaliningrad is expected to be a crucial staging point for any potential Russian aggression against NATO nations in northeastern and northern Europe, particularly against the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
In such a scenario, Russian and Belarusian forces are expected to attempt to seize the Suwalki Gap, a 60-mile corridor along the Lithuanian-Polish frontier between Belarus and Kaliningrad. This would cut off land access between the three Baltic states and the rest of NATO.
The Western alliance seems to have the strategic advantage in the Baltic Sea, following the addition of Sweden and Finland to the alliance after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Allied officials have previously told Newsweek that the body of water can now be considered a.
In March, reports from Russian and Ukrainian media indicated that a fishing vessel, Kapitan Lobanov, sank near the city of Pionersky in the same area of the Baltic Sea.