Hundreds of drones hit Moscow region on final day of Russian parliamentary vote, at least two killed
On the last day of Russia's three-day parliamentary election, hundreds of drones struck Moscow and its region, killing at least two people and damaging a major oil refinery. Moscow's mayor accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt the vote.
Hundreds of drones targeted Moscow and the surrounding region on Sunday, the final day of Russia's parliamentary election, killing at least two people and damaging a major oil refinery, authorities said.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 1,600 drones were intercepted and shot down, with 450 aimed directly at the capital. He accused Ukraine of orchestrating the attack to disrupt the tightly controlled election meant to extend President Vladimir Putin's 26-year hold on power, claiming the attempt failed.
Moscow regional governor Andrey Vorobyov said two people were killed in separate incidents — a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man. A drone crashing into a 21-storey building sparked a fire that forced the evacuation of 400 residents; the origin of that drone was not specified.
The strikes come as Kyiv has intensified its long-range drone campaign against Russia in recent months, focusing on energy infrastructure to undercut a key revenue source funding Moscow's war effort, now in its fifth year. Ukrainian strikes have already knocked out a significant share of Russia's refining capacity, causing fuel shortages, rising prices and long queues at petrol stations across the country. Sobyanin confirmed damage to a facility at the Moscow oil refinery, which has been hit by Ukrainian strikes before; no casualties were reported there.
Ukraine has not commented on the latest attack. Both Kyiv and Moscow maintain they do not target civilians. The strikes followed a statement earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to strike each other's energy facilities.
The vote, which began Friday, is Russia's first parliamentary election since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Only parties backing Putin and the war have been permitted to run, and Moscow also organised voting in occupied Ukrainian territory. While Putin's United Russia party is widely expected to win comfortably, the election is being watched as an indicator of public support for the war.
