Mass drone barrage on Moscow kills two

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Hundreds of drones targeting Moscow and its surrounding region killed at least two people and damaged a major refinery on the final day of Russia’s parliamentary elections, the authorities said Sunday.

The capital’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted and shot down, 450 of which were aimed at Moscow.

He accused Ukraine of attempting to interfere with a tightly controlled three-day election that is set to tighten President Vladimir Putin’s 26-year grip on power.

“The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” he said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the strikes, saying: “Our long-range responses had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night.”

“One of Russia’s key oil industry facilities and the aggressor’s logistics facility were hit. These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine,” he posted on X.

Moscow regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov said on the social media platform that at least two people were killed — a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man — in two separate locations.

A fire triggered by a drone crashing into a 21-story building also led to 400 people being evacuated, Vorobyov said. He did not specify the drones’ origin.

A Ukrainian drone strike also hit a bus in part of the country’s southern Kherson region occupied by Moscow, killing two people, including a member of the electoral commission, according to the authorities.

Russia said Saturday that its electronic voting system in Moscow had been hit by “powerful” cyberattacks overnight, as tightly controlled parliamentary elections entered a second day.

Ella Pamfilova, Chair of Russia’s Central Election Commission, did not give details on the nature of the attack or who was responsible.

Putin on Friday accused Ukraine of trying to “hinder” the vote, an accusation to which Kyiv has not responded. Ukraine has called the election farcical.

Four die in Kyiv

A Russian strike in the Kyiv region has killed at least four people, three of them children, the Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday.

The attack late on Saturday also damaged 31 sites, including apartment buildings, a warehouse and farming and industrial infrastructure, according to regional governor Timur Tkachenko.

“A child who was wounded in the enemy’s attack in the Vychgorod district died in hospital. The number of people killed in the Kyiv region has risen to four: three children and a woman,” Tkachenko posted on Telegram.