Two killed as over 1,000 drones strike Moscow region during final day of Russian parliamentary vote
Russian officials say more than 1,600 drones were intercepted, but attacks that hit a refinery and residential buildings killed two people and injured 20 as Russia concluded its three-day parliamentary election.
Russian authorities reported that Ukrainian-launched drones struck the Moscow region overnight, killing a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman and wounding 20 others. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 1,600 drones were shot down, including about 450 aimed at the capital, and described the wave as the largest attack the city has faced. Governor Andrei Vorobyov confirmed the deaths and said a fire broke out in a 21-storey apartment block, prompting the evacuation of roughly 400 residents.
The attacks also damaged a facility at the Moscow oil refinery, though no casualties were reported there. Sobyanin said the drone strike appeared intended to disrupt the parliamentary elections, which were concluding on Sunday, but that the “enemy did not succeed.”
The drone barrage occurred as Russia wrapped up its three-day State Duma election, which Kyiv has denounced as illegal because it includes voters from the four Ukrainian territories annexed by Moscow in 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a post on X, claimed the strike hit a key oil-industry and logistics facility that supports Russia’s war effort. Ukraine has not provided further comment on the specific attacks.