Moscow targeted by ‘largest ever’ drone attack on final day of Russia’s parliamentary election

Moscow’s mayor says Ukraine carried out its “largest ever” attack on the Russian capital and the surrounding area as voting in parliamentary elections entered the final day.

More than 1,000 drones were launched, killing at least two people and damaging a major oil refinery.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin linked the attack to the vote, saying it “was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections.”

“The enemy did not succeed,” he said.

Sunday is the third and final day of Russia’s first parliamentary elections since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In the absence of any credible opposition, President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party is widely expected to win.

Natalia Kolesnikova/Anadolu/Getty Images

Empty podiums, prizes for e-voting, no opposition: Russians head to the polls amid intensifying war in Ukraine

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the attack against Russia in a statement on Telegram, but he did not mention the election. Among the areas voting are four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Russia but not fully under the Kremlin’s control.

“Our long-range responses had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night,” Zelensky said, adding that the facilities that were targeted were bringing in “billions of dollars that sustain the war machine.”

Ukrainian General Staff said later that the main target of the attack was the Gazpromneft-Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district of the Russian capital. The facility is one of the largest refineries in the country in terms of volume.

The attack against Moscow was one of the largest Ukraine has mounted against the capital.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said 1,110 Ukrainian drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted and destroyed overnight.

Meanwhile, Sobyanin, the Moscow mayor, said that more than 1,600 drones had been shot down across Russia since Saturday, and that 450 of them were approaching the capital city. “Nevertheless, several drones reached the territory of the Moscow Refinery, and one struck a residential building,” he said.

The governor of the wider Moscow region, Andrey Vorobiev, said two people were killed and 20, including three children, were injured in the attacks overnight.

At the same time, Russia continued attacking Ukraine with drones and missiles. Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv region military administration, said attacks overnight into Sunday killed three children and one woman.

Russia has been hammering Ukraine, and Kyiv in particular, with near constant aerial attacks for almost a month now. Zelensky said on Sunday that this week alone, Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 19 missiles of various types against Ukraine.

莫斯科市长表示，在议会选举投票进入最后一天之际，乌克兰对俄罗斯首都及其周边地区发动了“有史以来规模最大的”袭击。

超过1000架无人机被放飞，造成至少两人死亡，并损毁了一家大型炼油厂。

市长谢尔盖·索比亚宁将此次袭击与投票联系起来，称其“显然是有预谋的，目的是扰乱选举”。

他说：“敌人没有得逞。”

周日是俄罗斯自2022年全面入侵乌克兰以来首次议会选举的第三天，也是最后一天。由于缺乏任何可信的反对派，普京总统领导的统一俄罗斯党预计将赢得选举。

娜塔莉亚·科列斯尼科娃/阿纳多卢/盖蒂图片社

空荡荡的讲台，电子投票的奖品，没有反对派：俄罗斯民众在乌克兰战事升级之际前往投票站

乌克兰总统泽连斯基在Telegram上发表声明，赞扬了对俄罗斯的袭击，但他只字未提选举。此次投票的地区包括四个被俄罗斯非法吞并但并未完全受克里姆林宫控制的乌克兰地区。

泽连斯基说：“昨晚，我们的远程打击行动对莫斯科地区产生了非常显著的影响。”他还补充说，被袭击的设施带来了“数十亿美元的收入，这些收入维持着战争机器的运转”。

乌克兰总参谋部随后表示，此次袭击的主要目标是位于俄罗斯首都莫斯科卡波特尼亚区的俄罗斯天然气工业石油公司莫斯科炼油厂。该炼油厂是俄罗斯产量最大的炼油厂之一。

对莫斯科的袭击是乌克兰对首都发动的最大规模袭击之一。

俄罗斯国防部称，一夜之间拦截并摧毁了1110架乌克兰无人机和其他无人飞行器。

与此同时，莫斯科市长索比亚宁表示，自周六以来，俄罗斯全国已击落1600多架无人机，其中450架正逼近首都。“尽管如此，仍有几架无人机飞入莫斯科炼油厂区域，其中一架撞上了一栋居民楼。”他说道。

莫斯科大区州长安德烈·沃罗比耶夫表示，昨晚的袭击事件造成两人死亡，20人受伤，其中包括三名儿童。

与此同时，俄罗斯继续使用无人机和导弹袭击乌克兰。基辅州军事管理局局长季穆尔·特卡琴科表示，周日凌晨的袭击造成三名儿童和一名妇女死亡。

近一个月来，俄罗斯对乌克兰，特别是基辅，进行了几乎不间断的空袭。泽连斯基周日表示，仅本周，俄罗斯就向乌克兰发射了2000多架攻击型无人机、1700枚航空炸弹和19枚各种类型的导弹。