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Reuters

Ukraine launched ⁠what Moscow’s mayor called the biggest ever drone attack on the Russian capital on Sunday, in what he said was an unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the final day of a parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a test of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The drone strikes killed two people in the Moscow region and two more in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, including an election official, according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and election ‌authorities. A facility at Moscow’s oil refinery, which has been targeted before, was also damaged.
“The biggest attack by enemy drones has been repelled. Since yesterday, more than 1,600 drones have been shot down across all fronts. Of these, 450 were approaching Moscow,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a statement on Telegram.
One of the drones had struck a residential building, but none of its residents had lost their lives, he said.
“This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” Sobyanin said.
The election authorities say the three days of voting have proceeded smoothly despite cyberattacks reported on ⁠Saturday. Turnout was at over 50 per cent by early afternoon Moscow time, Interfax news agency reported, citing the Central Election Commission.
In the village of Sofyino, south of Moscow, a body covered in a stained blanket lay in front of a damaged apartment ‌block, the upper windows of which were blown out.
“Glass went flying, people started screaming ⁠and shouting. I turned around, ⁠and the entrance doors had already been blown out, debris everywhere,” said resident Vitaliy, who gave only his first name.

The State Duma vote, the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022, is expected to see the ruling United Russia party easily retain its dominance in a political system critics ⁠say do not tolerate dissent.
The Kremlin is likely to present the outcome as evidence of public backing for Putin’s policies and for the war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, now in ‌its fifth year with no sign of ending soon.
Most anti-war candidates were barred from the ballot. Those who did run from the liberal Yabloko party, which has polled in the single digits in recent years but hoped to tap into war fatigue, said they feared for their freedom after courts handed long jail ‌terms to two senior party figures before the vote for comments about the conflict deemed illegal by authorities.
Discrediting the army or spreading what authorities regard as fake news is punishable by lengthy prison sentences.
In a ⁠small act of defiance, Yabloko’s leader, Nikolai Rybakov, demonstrably spoiled his ballot paper, writing his party’s name and the slogan “For peace”.
The Kremlin says national unity and some censorship are necessary during what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine. It casts ‌the conflict as part of an existential struggle with a hostile West and says Ukrainian intelligence services and other enemies are stepping up efforts to stir unrest inside Russia.
Russian electoral officials said on Saturday that an online voting system in Moscow ‌had ‌come under cyberattack. Kyiv, which has suspended elections under martial law, has dismissed the Russian vote as a “pseudo election”.

Putin on Friday also accused Ukraine of trying to interfere in the election, citing what he ‌said was a Ukrainian strike on the home of an election official in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region that killed Elena Astanina, the official. Reuters could not independently verify details of the attack ⁠and there was no comment from Kyiv.
Despite what experts see as the election’s predictable outcome, the NEST think tank in Berlin, co-founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whom Russian authorities have designated “a foreign agent”, ⁠said the vote could still produce awkward moments for the Kremlin at a time of economic strain.
“The consequences of the war are increasingly being felt within the country and accumulated anxiety and frustration may translate into votes for the systemic opposition parties that the Kremlin has allowed to remain on the ballot,” it said in a note.
It said the Communist party ‌and the New People party could attract votes the ‌authorities would prefer to go to United Russia. Both parties have consistently voted in line with United Russia on major issues.
Putin told the nation in a televised address before the election that the vote would underline support for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.
“Your choice, and your will, will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our soldiers, that we are a united people bound together by shared values, historical memory and love for our homeland, and that no one will succeed in dividing or intimidating us,” Putin said.
Initial results are expected to start emerging at around 1800 GMT on Sunday, with more complete results available on Monday.


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Ukraine war

Ukraine pummels Moscow with drones on last day of Russian election

Plumes of smoke rise from fires at an oil refinery following a Ukrainian drone strike in Moscow on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Yabloko party leader Nikolai Rybakov casts a ballot with a writing in Russian reading “For peace” during the parliamentary election in St Petersburg on Sunday. Photo: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin casts his ballot online in the parliamentary election on Friday. Photo: Kremlin/dpa

A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Mariupol, Donetsk region, on Saturday. Photo: EPA

People gather outside a residential building damaged in a Ukrainian drone strike in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Some Western politicians stoking Nato-Russia clash as Ukraine war strategy falters: Fico

Ukrainian servicemen fire a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico attends a press conference in Bratislava on September 10. Photo: Reuters

A police officer walks next to an explosive-disarming robot at Germany’s Leipzig airport last month after a drone was found near a runway. Photo: Reuters

‘War without battle’: Europe struggles to tackle mounting Russian hybrid attacks

Lithuanian soldiers secure the area where Nato fighter jets shot down a drone near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

A Russian military drone is partially visible on the beach in Rusinowo, Poland, on Monday. Photo: EPA

A Ukrainian firefighter works at a residential building following a Russian aerial strike in Odesa on Thursday. Photo: Ukrainian State Emergency Service/AFP

News

World

Russia & Central Asia

Two people were killed in the Moscow region and the Russian capital’s oil refinery was also struck


Two people were killed in the Moscow region and the Russian capital’s oil refinery was also struck.


Ukraine

Russia

Vladimir Putin

War and conflict

Ukraine pummels Moscow with drones on last day of Russian election

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Two people were killed in the Moscow region and the Russian capital’s oil refinery was also struck

Two people were killed in the Moscow region and the Russian capital’s oil refinery was also struck