Russia came under a massive drone attack on Sunday morning, according to the country’s authorities, who denounced it as an attempt to “disrupt” the legislative elections being held across the country this weekend.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram that the attack had “clearly been planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” accusing Ukraine of carrying out the assault. According to the mayor, Russian air defenses shot down more than 1,600 drones, of which “450 were heading toward Moscow.”
Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the region surrounding Moscow, said 249 drones were downed by air defenses, with debris striking several residential areas. In total, two people were killed — a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man — in two separate locations, the official said. In a third affected community, 400 people were evacuated after a drone crash sparked a fire in an apartment building, according to the same source. In Moscow itself, a major oil refinery was damaged, Mayor Sobyanin said.
Strikes on Occupied Ukrainian Territories
“Our long-range strikes had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night. One of the main facilities of the Russian oil industry and a logistics infrastructure of the aggressor were hit,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on the social media platform X.
The attack came as Russians voted Sunday in the third and final day of the country’s first legislative elections since Russia’s full-scale offensive in Ukraine began in February 2022. The vote is widely expected to deliver a victory for President Vladimir Putin’s party, as dissent is severely repressed and the only party openly opposed to the war, Yabloko, has been excluded.
The elections will renew all 450 seats in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, and are also being held in Ukrainian territories occupied and annexed by Russia.
Analysts will nonetheless scrutinize voter turnout and the results of alternative parties to gauge the mood of Russians, who are grappling with Western economic sanctions, regular Ukrainian strikes, fuel shortages and restrictions on internet access in several regions. The first results are expected Sunday after 6 p.m.
