Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the raids as the "biggest attack by enemy drones" ever launched against the Russian capital, saying the strikes were clearly intended to disrupt the election but that "the enemy did not succeed."
According to Sobyanin and election officials, two civilians were killed in the Moscow region and two more died in the Russian‑controlled part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, one of them an election official. A facility at a Moscow oil refinery, which has been hit in previous attacks, also suffered damage.
The drone attacks unfolded while Russians cast ballots on the final day of a three‑day parliamentary vote, the first since the full‑scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. The ruling United Russia party is expected to retain a dominant majority in the State Duma, a result the Kremlin is likely to portray as a mandate for President Vladimir Putin’s war policies.
Election authorities reported that voting proceeded smoothly despite a cyberattack on an online voting system in Moscow on Saturday. Central Election Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said turnout had risen above 45% by late morning on Sunday.
Opposition candidates from the liberal Yabloko party, which has struggled to clear the electoral threshold in recent polls, faced a hostile environment. Two senior Yabloko figures had recently received long prison sentences for comments on the war, and party leader Nikolai Rybakov publicly spoiled his ballot with the slogan "For peace" as a symbolic protest.
International observers dismissed the vote as a "pseudo‑election," and Kyiv, which has suspended elections under martial law, denied any involvement in the drone strikes. President Putin, in a televised address before the vote, framed the election as a test of popular support for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.
Preliminary results are slated to start emerging around 1800 GMT on Sunday, with a fuller picture expected on Monday. Analysts note that economic strain and war fatigue could still produce unexpected votes for systemic opposition parties such as the Communist Party and New People, which the Kremlin tolerates to a limited extent.