Moscow Drone Strike Kills Two as Russia Votes in Wartime Election

The shadow of the war in Ukraine loomed heavily over Russia’s parliamentary elections as they entered their third and final day on Sunday, marked by what officials described as an unprecedented attack on the capital.

Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, reported that hundreds of drones struck the city and its surrounding region, resulting in at least two fatalities. Air defenses intercepted more than 1,600 drones in total, with 450 of them aimed directly at Moscow. Additionally, state news agency TASS confirmed that a facility at a major Moscow oil refinery was damaged in the assault, though no injuries were reported at that specific site.

Sobyanin accused Kyiv of orchestrating the strike with the explicit goal of disrupting the tightly controlled vote. “The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” he stated on Telegram.

The State Duma election is the first legislative vote held since the Kremlin launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022. President Vladimir Putin has characterized the poll as a barometer of public support for the war, which has now persisted for five years with no immediate resolution in sight. The ruling United Russia party is expected to maintain its dominance in a political landscape where critics argue dissent is not tolerated.

Notably, this election includes residents from regions that Russia has illegally annexed from Ukraine since the start of the invasion more than four and a half years ago, marking a significant shift in the electoral map.

The attack comes amidst escalating tensions on the battlefield and in the skies. On Friday, the United States approved a potential $2.68 billion sale of air defense equipment to Ukraine following repeated requests from Kyiv. Meanwhile, a Russian glide bomb struck an apartment building in the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Friday, killing two people and injuring seven, three of whom were in serious condition.

Voters cast their ballots in polling stations across the country, including in settlements like Razumnoye in the Belgorod region, where one station was named after Alexey Osipov, a Russian National Guard officer killed during the conflict and posthumously awarded the title Hero of Russia.