Ukraine Launches Over 1,100 Drones at Russia as Parliamentary Vote Ends
Ukraine fired more than 1,100 drones at Russia overnight, including hundreds toward Moscow, as the country concluded its first wartime parliamentary election.
Ukrainian forces launched more than 1,100 drones at Russia overnight, with hundreds directed toward Moscow, Russian officials said on Sunday, as the Kremlin closed out the third and final day of its first wartime parliamentary election.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the assault as the "largest ever" drone attack on the Russian capital. He said 450 drones were shot down on the approach to Moscow, though an oil refinery and a residential building in the city were damaged.
Across the wider Moscow region, two people were killed and 20 others wounded, according to regional governor Andrei Vorobyov. Footage from the region showed a drone flying and crashing near a residential building, and a thermal power plant on fire with a drone audible overhead.
Vorobyov visited the site of a damaged house and car, speaking with Natalia Sanaikina, a polling station official in the Leninsky district who was reportedly injured in the attack. "I know that your house was damaged. There were five children in the house," he said, adding that repairs would be carried out.
The strikes disrupted air travel at several Moscow airports for hours, with more than 400 flights diverted, cancelled or delayed. Sobyanin characterized the attack as a botched attempt to disrupt Russia's election.
The three-day balloting has been virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin's policies and is all but certain to cement the Kremlin's grip on the political scene. The main Kremlin party, United Russia, is poised to retain its overwhelming dominance of the lower house, the State Duma. The only registered political entity that dared to oppose the fighting in Ukraine, the liberal Yabloko party, was struck off the ballot by Russia's Supreme Court.