Ukraine's 1,000-drone barrage hits Moscow as Russia ends wartime vote

Moscow,UPDATED: Sep 20, 2026 14:02 IST

Ukrainian forces fired more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including hundreds aimed at Moscow, officials said on Sunday as the Kremlin wrapped up the third and final day of its parliamentary elections. Russian authorities said the strikes caused damage in and around the capital and were among the biggest attacks since the war began.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described it as the "largest ever" drone attack on the Russian capital and said an oil refinery and a residential building were damaged. Across the wider Moscow region, two people were killed and 20 were injured, according to regional governor Andrei Vorobyov.

Vorobyov said the dead were a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the attack.

Russia's Ministry of Defence said its forces shot down 1,100 Ukrainian drones across the country, as well as over the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea. Sobyanin said 450 drones had been destroyed while heading towards Moscow.

He said the "unprecedented attack" on the capital was an attempt to disrupt the elections. "The enemy failed in this regard," he said.

The voting was Russia's first wartime parliamentary election, a ballot virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin's policies and widely expected to reinforce the Kremlin's dominance. Russia also held voting in four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began but still does not fully control, and in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Kyiv has denounced the move as illegal.

In sum, Russian officials said more than 1,000 drones were launched overnight, with Moscow facing what its mayor called the biggest such attack on the capital, even as voting ended in a wartime parliamentary election held in Russia and in occupied Ukrainian territories.

With PTI Inputs

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