Ukraine Drowns Moscow in Drones on Final Days of Elections
Ukraine launched its largest declared drone attack on Moscow and its surroundings, targeting the Russian capital and its oil refinery, coinciding with the final day of Russia’s parliamentary elections.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian defenses shot down more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including around 450 heading toward the capital. He described the attack as the largest of its kind and accused Kyiv of seeking to disrupt the elections.
According to Russian authorities, the attack resulted in two deaths and the evacuation of approximately 400 people, including 70 children, after a residential building was damaged.
The drones struck a facility within Moscow’s oil refinery, one of the key installations in Russia’s refining sector, which processed 11.6 million tons of crude oil in 2024 and produced 2.9 million tons of gasoline and 3.2 million tons of diesel.
The strike comes amid repeated Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure that have disrupted part of Russia’s refining capacity, causing shortages of petroleum products and driving up fuel prices.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted footage of fires and smoke plumes rising from the Russian capital, stating, “Our long-range strikes hit the Moscow region and had a significant impact,” adding, “We targeted facilities in Russia worth billions of dollars that fuel the war machine.”
The attack occurred on the third and final day of Russia’s parliamentary elections, the first held during the war since 2022, in which the ruling United Russia party is expected to maintain its dominance.
The Kremlin had presented the elections as an indicator of public support for the war, while Moscow accused Kyiv of attempting to influence the vote. Ukraine, meanwhile, described the elections in territories annexed by Russia as illegal.
Meanwhile, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law imposing a new package of sanctions on Russia, targeting the energy and defense sectors and senior Russian officials. At the same time, the U.S. State Department approved a potential $2.6 billion deal to supply Ukraine with air defense equipment.
Although Russian Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev threatened a “military response” to the U.S. sanctions, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that a new meeting between Moscow and Washington would be held in the coming weeks to discuss tensions in bilateral relations.
