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Hundreds of drones have targeted Moscow and surrounding areas, killing at least two people and damaging a major oil refinery on the final day of Russia’s parliamentary elections, authorities have said.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defences intercepted and destroyed more than 1,600 drones, including about 450 that were heading towards the capital. Sobyanin accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack in an attempt to disrupt the three-day election, which is widely expected to strengthen President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.
“The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” Sobyanin said in a post on Telegram.
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Moscow regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov confirmed that at least two people were killed in separate incidents — a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man. He added that a drone-caused fire in a 21-storey residential building forced about 400 people to evacuate. Vorobyov did not identify the drones’ source.
The attacks also damaged the Moscow Oil Refinery, Sobyanin said, adding that emergency teams were responding on site and that no casualties had been reported. The facility has previously been targeted in strikes linked to Ukraine.
The latest drone operation comes as Kyiv has increased long-range attacks on Russian infrastructure, particularly energy facilities that generate revenue used to support Moscow’s military campaign. The strikes followed comments from US President Donald Trump that Russia and Ukraine had agreed not to target each other’s energy infrastructure.
The drone attacks happened as Russians voted in the country’s first parliamentary election since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Only parties aligned with President Putin and supportive of the Kremlin’s military actions were registered to contest the election. Voting was also organised in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia.
While Putin’s United Russia party is widely expected to retain its dominance, the election is being viewed as a measure of public sentiment towards the government and its handling of the war, which has entered its fifth year.
