MOSCOW, Russia – Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack across Russia on Sunday as the country held the final day of its parliamentary election, with Russian authorities reporting strikes around Moscow, damage to an oil refinery and residential buildings, and multiple deaths.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 1,110 Ukrainian drones across Russia, occupied Crimea and the Black Sea during the day. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin separately said more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted since Saturday, including about 450 headed toward the capital. The figures could not be independently reconciled.
The attack came as Russians completed a three-day election for all 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. It was the first parliamentary election since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow refinery and residential areas hit
Russian authorities said several drones reached the Moscow region despite the air defenses.
Sobyanin said a facility at the Moscow Oil Refinery was damaged. Reuters witnesses reported hearing explosions and seeing smoke rising from the refinery area. The plant processed 11.6 million metric tons of crude oil in 2024, according to the latest available figures cited by Reuters.
A residential building in the Moscow region was also damaged.
Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said two people were killed and 20 injured in the wider region in the initial reports. Reuters later reported that a third person died from injuries, bringing the reported death toll in the region to three. About 400 people, including 70 children, were evacuated from a damaged 21-story apartment building in Ramenskoye, according to Vorobyov.
Russian officials said an attack also killed an election official in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine’s Kherson region.
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Ukraine has not publicly claimed responsibility for the specific attack in Moscow.
Russia says the attack was intended to disrupt voting
Sobyanin described the drone assault as an attempt to interfere with the parliamentary election.
He said the attack was unprecedented in scale but claimed that it did not prevent the election from proceeding.
Russian election authorities also reported cyberattacks against voting systems during the election. Despite those incidents and the drone strikes, officials said the voting process continued.
The Kremlin had presented the election as an important demonstration of national unity during the war. President Vladimir Putin had also emphasized the participation of voters in regions of Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed.
Ukraine and most of the international community do not recognize Russia’s annexation of those territories. The European Union has said it does not recognize elections conducted by Russia in occupied Ukrainian territory.
Kyiv says its strikes target military and economic infrastructure
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the operation involved Ukrainian-made drones and missiles and targeted oil and logistics infrastructure.
Zelenskyy said the strikes were intended to put pressure on Russia’s ability to finance and supply its military campaign. He specifically referred to attacks on oil and logistics facilities.
Ukraine has increasingly used long-range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia, particularly oil refineries and other infrastructure connected to the country’s energy system.
Kyiv has said such operations are intended to reduce Russia’s ability to sustain the war.
Russia has repeatedly condemned the attacks and has responded with its own strikes against Ukraine.
Attack comes amid continuing strikes on energy infrastructure
The Moscow refinery was not the first Russian energy facility to come under attack.
Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries have contributed to disruptions in domestic fuel supplies, according to recent reporting. Reuters reported that attacks have knocked out a significant portion of Russian refining capacity, contributing to fuel shortages and higher prices in parts of the country.
The Moscow refinery is one of Russia’s major fuel-processing facilities serving the capital region.
Damage to such facilities can have effects beyond the immediate military campaign because refineries convert crude oil into gasoline, diesel and other products needed by civilian and military users.
Russia vows further strikes
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it would intensify attacks against Ukrainian military targets following the drone assault.
The ministry characterized the strikes as attacks on civilian targets, while Ukrainian officials have described their long-range campaign as focused on military and economic infrastructure.
Neither side’s broader claims about targeting practices can be independently established from the battlefield reporting available on the day of the attack.
The strikes came despite a recent U.S. effort to establish an understanding between Russia and Ukraine concerning attacks on energy infrastructure. The two sides have continued to accuse each other of violating that understanding.
Election ends under the shadow of the war
The drone attack occurred on the third and final day of voting in Russia’s parliamentary election.
The election included voting in Crimea and in parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia that Russia claims to have annexed. Kyiv has rejected the elections as illegal, while the European Union has said it will not recognize voting or results organized by Russia in occupied Ukrainian territory.
The election was already taking place under significant restrictions on political opposition. Several anti-war figures and organizations have been excluded, imprisoned or forced into exile, while the liberal Yabloko party was removed from the ballot.
The attack therefore added a direct wartime security crisis to an election already being conducted under the conditions of Russia’s prolonged conflict with Ukraine.
Early results released after voting ended showed President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party leading by a wide margin. Those results are separate from the question of the drone attack itself and do not establish the attack’s effect on voter behavior or the election outcome.
The immediate impact was more concrete: damage to infrastructure, deaths and injuries, evacuations and another demonstration that Ukraine’s long-range strike capability can reach deep into Russian territory.
For Moscow, the attack also underscored the security challenge facing Russia as it conducted its first parliamentary election since the full-scale invasion began.
Reporting Credit: Russian Ministry of Defense — reported drone interceptions and air-defense operations; Moscow City Government — reports on strikes affecting Moscow and the Moscow Oil Refinery; Moscow Regional Government — casualty, injury and evacuation information; Russian Central Election Commission — election-day security and voting information; Office of the President of Ukraine — Ukrainian statements concerning the purpose and targets of long-range strikes.
