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Ukraine Sinks Putin’s Newest $33M Ship in Crimea

Wes O'Donnell
5 min readMay 24, 2024

The Russian corvette was the last warship in the Black Sea capable of carrying and launching Kalibr cruise missiles.

Not long ago, I welcomed the arrival of longer-range, bigger-warhead ATACMS in Ukraine and boldly stated that Ukraine would now make Crimea untenable for Russian occupation.

I’m just saying… It’s never too late to turn around and go home, Russia. This national embarrassment can end whenever you choose.

On May 19, a post on Ukrainian Navy’s Telegram channel proudly declared, “The Defense Forces of Ukraine hit the Russian missile ship Tsyklon of project 22800 in Sevastopol.”

If independently confirmed, the loss of the Tsyklon is a huge blow to Russia’s missile launch capability in the Black Sea.

The Karakurt class, Russian designation Project 22800, is a more seaworthy, blue-water complement to the Buyan-M-class corvettes — which are smaller, coastal water boats for places like the Caspian Sea and large rivers.

The Tsyklon (“Cyclone” — serial number 801) missile corvette was just commissioned in July of 2023 making it one of Putin’s shiniest new war toys — heck, the ship probably still had that unique, new warship smell of…

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Wes O'Donnell
Wes O'Donnell

Written by Wes O'Donnell

US Army & US Air Force Veteran | Global Security Writer | Intel Forecaster | Law Student | TEDx Speaker | Pro Democracy | Pro Human | Hates Authoritarians

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