by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Much of Moscow was apparently burning Sunday as Ukraine launched one of its largest drone strikes on the Russian capital, killing several people and injuring dozens while disrupting the final day of Russia’s parliamentary elections.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted 1,110 Ukrainian drones across Russia, Russian-annexed Crimea and the Black Sea, while hundreds were directed toward Moscow.

The assault came as Russian President Vladimir Putin cast Sunday’s voting as a test of support for his nation’s war in Ukraine, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

Voting systems also faced waves of cyberattacks, according to election authorities. Despite the disruptions, officials said the electoral process had been mostly smooth amid what Moscow described as external attempts to derail the State Duma vote — the first since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The strikes killed three people in the Moscow region and two more in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, including an election official, according to regional authorities and Russia’s Central Election Commission.

DEADLY DRONE ATTACK

About 20 people were also reported injured in the Moscow region.

A facility at the Moscow Oil Refinery, which has been targeted before, was damaged. As voting got underway in the capital, flames and huge columns of smoke rose from the site on Moscow’s outskirts.

Ukraine has increasingly relied on domestically produced long-range drones and missiles to strike energy, military and logistics targets deep inside Russia.

Kyiv says the campaign is intended to weaken Moscow’s ability to finance and sustain its invasion and bring its consequences closer to Russians.

Both sides have become locked in an escalating exchange of long-range aerial strikes as ground fighting continues along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.

MOSCOW TARGETED

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 drones had been intercepted while heading toward the capital. “The biggest attack by enemy drones has been repelled,” he wrote on the social media platform Telegram.

“This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” Sobyanin added.

The vote was expected to see the ruling United Russia party retain its dominance in a political system where most anti-war candidates have been barred from the ballot.

Putin made clear before polling began that he viewed the election partly as a demonstration of support for Russian forces 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 told his nation in a televised address.

PUTIN SEEKS SUPPORT

Central Election Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova echoed those sentiments, stressing that the violence had not deterred voters. “The more pressure they put on us, the more we are seeing an unprecedented level of what I would call public unity,” Russia’s RIA news agency quoted her as saying.

Pamfilova acknowledged that some Moscow voters experienced technical difficulties while attempting to vote remotely because of cyberattacks. Yet she pledged that everyone would be given an opportunity to cast a ballot.

Amid the difficulties, long lines were reported at some polling stations in the capital, while official data showed turnout approaching 57 percent by early Sunday evening.

Yet questions about the fairness of the ballot were raised by the liberal Yabloko party. Yabloko, which has polled in the single digits in recent years, had hoped to benefit from war fatigue. However, courts handed lengthy prison sentences to two senior party figures ahead of the election over comments about the armed conflict.

Russian law allows lengthy prison sentences for what authorities describe as discrediting the armed forces or spreading “false information” about the military.

OPPOSITION RESTRICTED

In a small act of defiance, Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov deliberately spoiled his ballot, writing his party’s name and the slogan “For peace.”

The Kremlin says national unity and restrictions on some information are necessary during what Moscow officially calls its “special military operation.”

Russia portrays the conflict as part of an existential confrontation with the West, while Ukraine and its Western allies view it as an unprovoked Russian invasion.

Under the shadow of war, balloting was also held in Russian-controlled areas of occupied Ukraine, including territories Moscow claims to have annexed despite not fully controlling them.

Kyiv, which has suspended national elections under martial law, denounced the Russian parliamentary ballot as a “pseudo election.”

VOTING IN UKRAINE

Putin accused Ukraine of attempting to interfere, citing a Ukrainian strike Tuesday that he claimed killed an election official at her home in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

The circumstances could not immediately be independently verified, and Kyiv had not publicly commented on the allegation.

Despite the expected strong showing of pro-Putin candidates, analysts suggested economic pressures and growing concerns about the war could benefit some Kremlin-approved opposition parties.

The Berlin-based NEST think tank said accumulated “anxiety and frustration” could translate into support for parties permitted to remain on the ballot, including the Communist Party and New People. Both have generally backed the Kremlin on major issues.

Initial election results were expected to emerge Sunday evening, with more complete results due Monday.

Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.