Russia Is Still Flying A 1960s Soviet Flying Boat On Combat Missions Over The Black Sea

Adorned in the livery of the Russian Navy, a relic of the 1960s still soars over the Black Sea in a desperate bid to fill a mission gap that the diminishing surface fleet and decrepit aircraft carrier cannot. That plane is the Beriev Be-12 Chayka, a turboprop seaplane known to NATO as ‘Mail.’ Despite the grand armada that Russia wielded to exert dominance over the region, Ukraine’s uncrewed surface vessels have dealt numerous heavy blows that have forced the unprepared navy to change its strategy.