Ukrainian forces launched more than 1,000 drones toward Russia overnight, including hundreds aimed at Moscow, Russian officials said Sunday as the Kremlin concluded the third and final day of parliamentary elections.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the barrage the largest drone attack ever recorded against the Russian capital. He said strikes damaged a Moscow oil refinery and a residential building.
The assault across the broader Moscow region killed two people and injured 20, regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said.
The victims were identified as a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, according to Vorobyov.
Ukraine did not immediately issue a statement regarding the reported attack.
The election was Russia’s first parliamentary vote held during wartime. Opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies was virtually absent, making the result almost certain to reinforce the Kremlin’s political dominance.
Russia also conducted voting in four Ukrainian regions it illegally annexed after the war began, despite lacking full control over them, as well as in Crimea. Moscow seized the Black Sea peninsula in 2014. Kyiv has condemned the elections as illegal.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses destroyed 1,100 Ukrainian drones across the country, including over Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea.
Sobyanin said 450 drones were intercepted while heading toward Moscow. He confirmed that the attack caused damage at the Moscow Oil Refinery and to a residential building.
The mayor described the strike on the capital as an “unprecedented attack” intended to interfere with Russia’s elections.
“The enemy failed in this regard,” Sobyanin said.
