Ukraine launches 'most massive' attack during Russia's first wartime elections

More than 1,000 drones were dispatched into Russian territory by Ukrainian forces on the last day of the country's first parliamentary elections since Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine started years ago.

Hundreds of drones targeted Russia's capital and largest city, Moscow, and its mayor Sergei Sobyanin called it the "most massive enemy drone attack on Moscow" (translated by Google Translate).

Two people were killed and 20 others wounded, in the strikes, according to Moscow's regional governor Andrei Vorobyov in a Telegram post.

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a X post called the "long-range responses" on Moscow as having "a very significant impact." An oil refinery in the capital region was reportedly damaged.

Russia has been holding elections for the lower-house State Duma parliament body, as well as local gubernatorial and legislative assembly elections—of which are all seen as highly restrictive.

Moscow's mayor Sobyanin claimed the "unprecedented attacks were clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections," Sobyanin said. "The enemy failed to achieve this goal."

Polls for the three-day vote closed on 20 September, hours after Kyiv's strikes. Russia's election governing body said turnout among 111 eligible million voters was 56.66 percent.

People living in four eastern Ukrainian regions and the Crimea peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed and are held under various levels of Russian control, were also included in the vote. Photos show armed soldiers standing and watching voters in poll sites.

But don't expect much from the results: The elections practically didn't have any opposition against Putin's policies. The Russian government blocks any kind of political adversaries with many jailed, killed or exiled, bans anti-war or pro-peace calls, jails outspoken critics, shuts down activism against Putin, and shuns independent observers of polls.

And the results will most likely continue the Kremlin's overwhelming control. United Russia, aligned with the Russian government, is expected to win. Other parties that vote along with United Russia and support the war on Ukraine might also garner some seats in the Duma.

More notably, they were the first elections held for the parliament since Putin's invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.

Reuters called the Russian election a "test of support for" the ongoing war, even without any substantial opposition:

The State Duma vote, the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022, is likely to be presented by the Kremlin as evidence of public backing for Putin's policies and for the war, Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, now in its fifth year with no sign of ending soon.

Zelenskyy said, following the drone strikes, that "Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions."

Moscow remains committed to its war. Its defense ministry also asserted the attacks were trying to "disrupt the democratic will of Russian civilians" and vowed to "continue and intensify" actions against Kyiv.

Zelenskyy insisted that diplomacy is still an option: "Steps toward de-escalation are on the table – in energy and food security. What is needed is political will."

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