Hundreds of Drones Target Moscow on Sunday as Russia entered the final day of its parliamentary election, with at least two people killed and an oil refinery in the capital damaged in a major aerial attack.
The drone barrage struck Moscow and surrounding areas as Russians cast ballots in the first parliamentary election since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air-defence systems had intercepted and shot down more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including about 450 that were directed towards the capital.
Sobyanin accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt the three-day parliamentary election, although Kyiv had not publicly claimed responsibility for the attacks.
“The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” Sobyanin said in a statement posted on Telegram.
The scale of the attack made it one of the largest recent drone assaults on the Moscow region, coming as authorities worked to secure the final day of voting.
Two People Killed in Moscow Region
At least two people were killed in separate incidents in the Moscow region, according to regional governor Andrey Vorobyov.
The victims were identified as a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man. Several residential properties were also damaged during the attacks.
In one incident, a drone crashed into a 21-storey residential building, triggering a fire and forcing the evacuation of about 400 people.
Reuters reported that the evacuation in the Ramenskoye district involved around 400 residents, including 70 children, while several homes were damaged.
The attacks created fresh security concerns around the Russian capital as voters continued participating in an election taking place under wartime conditions.
Oil Refinery Hit in Moscow
The Moscow oil refinery was also damaged during the drone assault, adding to a growing series of Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure.
Several drones reached the refinery, according to Russian officials, while emergency services responded to the incident. No casualties were reported at the facility.
The refinery has been targeted in previous Ukrainian drone attacks, as Kyiv has increasingly focused its long-range strikes on facilities connected to Russia’s energy sector.
Ukraine has not commented on the latest attacks, while both Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly said they do not deliberately target civilians.
Ukraine’s Drone Campaign Targets Russian Energy Infrastructure
The latest Moscow drone attack comes amid an intensifying Ukrainian campaign against Russian oil refineries, fuel facilities and other energy infrastructure.
Kyiv has increasingly used long-range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia, with Ukrainian officials arguing that attacks on energy facilities can affect the resources available to support Russia’s war effort.
The strikes have disrupted parts of Russia’s oil-refining capacity and contributed to shortages of some oil products, higher fuel prices and longer queues at petrol stations, according to Reuters.
The latest assault also came despite President Donald Trump saying earlier in the week that Russia and Ukraine had agreed not to attack each other’s energy facilities.
Despite that announcement, attacks on energy infrastructure have continued.
Russia’s Parliamentary Election Enters Final Day
The drone attack occurred as Russia concluded a three-day parliamentary election that began on Friday.
The vote is the first election for the State Duma since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and President Vladimir Putin has presented the election as an indication of public support for the country and its military campaign.
The political environment surrounding the election has been tightly controlled. Reuters reported that most anti-war candidates were barred from participating, while liberal opposition figures associated with the Yabloko party have faced legal pressure.
The Guardian similarly reported that only parties supportive of Putin and the Kremlin’s military campaign were registered to contest the election, while voting was also organised by Russia in Ukrainian territories it occupies.
The election therefore takes place against the backdrop of the continuing Russia-Ukraine war, growing Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia and increased security measures around voting.
Moscow Also Reports Election-Related Cyberattacks
The drone attacks followed reports of attempts to disrupt Russia’s electoral infrastructure.
Russian authorities said Moscow’s online voting system had come under an intense cyberattack during the election, but claimed the attack was repelled.
Officials also reported a sabotage attempt targeting communications infrastructure in Russia’s Far East. President Putin accused Ukraine of attempting to interfere with the election, although Reuters noted that no evidence was presented publicly to substantiate the allegation.
The reports of cyberattacks and the drone barrage have added another layer of tension to an election already being held amid the country’s ongoing war with Ukraine.
Election Seen as Test of Support for Ukraine War
Russia’s parliamentary election has been closely watched as a measure of public sentiment towards the war, even though the political field has been significantly restricted.
Putin has described the election as an expression of national unity and support for Russian troops in Ukraine, while Reuters reported that the Kremlin views the vote as a test of public backing for its wartime policies.
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The election also includes voting in territories that Russia claims to have annexed from Ukraine, a move Kyiv and European officials have condemned as contrary to international law.
As polling stations closed on the final day, the drone strikes around Moscow provided a dramatic backdrop to the vote, highlighting how the war has increasingly reached areas far from the front lines.
The immediate damage from the latest attacks was still being assessed, while emergency teams continued responding to incidents across the Moscow region.
For Russian authorities, the priority remained completing the final day of voting amid heightened security. For Ukraine, the attacks form part of a broader campaign targeting Russian military and energy infrastructure.
The Kremlin has maintained that its air-defence forces are capable of protecting the capital, while the scale of Sunday’s barrage demonstrated the continuing challenge posed by Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign.
