Two killed as Ukrainian drones strike Moscow region on election day
Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow area killed at least two people and damaged a major oil refinery, while Russian forces reported extensive drone activity in Ukraine, resulting in civilian casualties.
At least two people were killed in Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow region, including the capital, as Russia’s parliamentary elections entered their final day. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted since Saturday, with 450 heading for the city. Regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov reported that a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man died in separate incidents, and a fire caused by a drone striking a 21-storey building forced the evacuation of about 400 residents.
Sobyanin added that a facility at the Moscow oil refinery was damaged, noting that the refinery has been targeted by Ukrainian strikes in recent months. He said the attacks were intended to disrupt the election, but claimed they had failed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the long-range strikes had a significant impact on the Moscow region, highlighting damage to a key oil industry facility and a logistics site.
In the Kyiv region, Ukrainian officials said Russian drone attacks killed at least four people, including three children, and damaged dozens of sites across several districts. The regional governor reported a woman and her two three-year-old children were killed when a drone hit their home, and a girl later died in hospital after another strike.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 138 drones across the country overnight, with air defenses shooting down 101 of them. The attacks come amid an intensified Ukrainian drone campaign targeting Russian energy infrastructure, which Moscow relies on for revenue.
Analysts noted the scale of the Moscow attacks was among the largest single-day drone strikes since the conflict began, and observed that the timing coincided with the final day of Russia’s elections.