What about air defense? Russians "missed" the arrival of the Caspian Flotilla, says Alexander Kovalenko.

For the first time since the onset of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, a drone has struck the ships of the Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy. Later, media reports emerged indicating that in Kaspiysk, as a result of the strike, military vessels of project 11661, "Tatarstan" and "Dagestan," were damaged.

Moreover, based on a video that surfaced online, filmed literally from a first-person perspective, it can be inferred that the strike occurred in the docking area of a small missile boat of project 21631 and a missile boat of project 12418, with "Stupinets" being the only representative in the composition of the Caspian Flotilla.

I am confident that clarifications regarding the affected ships will follow, but for now, I would like to draw attention to something else.

Kaspiysk is located more than a thousand kilometers from the probable launch site, and the drone, which is an adapted light aircraft, managed to cover this distance without any issues, and during daylight hours! Hundreds of kilometers through Russian layered air defense, not a large-sized, compact object, but a light aircraft!

But it gets even more interesting.

Yes, this is the first strike against Russians in the Caspian Sea during the entire period of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, clearly implying – sailors, you will not have peace in either the Black Sea or the Caspian! However, what exactly was targeted?

The Caspian Flotilla includes not only the aforementioned military ships from the mentioned projects but also others, particularly 21631 and 22800. Almost all of these projects are equipped with naval air defense systems of short and medium range! For instance, the ships of project 11661 have the automatic cannon AK-630, the air defense system "Osa-MA-2," or the air defense missile system "Palash," not to mention the standard portable air defense systems "Igla-M." The project 21630 features the automatic cannon AK-306 or AK-630M-2 "Duet," the air defense system 3M-47 "Gibka," and standard portable air defense systems "Igla-M"… On project 22800, in addition to the AK-630M, there is the unique in the world air defense missile system "Pantsir-ME," along with the usual portable air defense systems "Igla-M."

In effect, entering the docking area of the Caspian Flotilla ships, the light aircraft should have found itself under such crossfire that it should have had no chance of evading. Yet, not only did it evade, but it also successfully hit its target!

It is difficult to comment on how Russian air defense performed, but the Ukrainian drone executed a strike that was as audacious as it was unexpected, once again humiliating the occupiers.

And once again. Occupiers, is it not clear that there is no safe place for you anywhere, and yes, your air defense will not save you. In some sense, it can even finish you off, but it will not save you.