🇷🇺 Russia – Monday, 21 September 2026
**Record drone barrage as Duma vote closes**
Ukraine fired over 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including what Moscow's mayor called the "largest ever" strike on the capital, damaging an oil refinery and a residential building; Russia's defense ministry says it downed 1,100 drones nationwide. Casualties: two killed in the Moscow region, two more (including an election official) in Russian-held Kherson, and 20 injured including three children. Zelensky said the targeted facilities bring in "billions of dollars that sustain the war machine," while Russian officials framed the attack as an assault on civilian infrastructure during a legitimate election.
**United Russia wins Duma with reduced margin**
Russia's Central Election Commission put final turnout at 56.66%; exit polls gave United Russia about 53.5% (down from 2021), the Communist Party 14.5% and the LDPR 10.1%, retaining the Kremlin's majority. Independent monitors reported ballot stuffing at over 4,500 polling stations, while Ukrainian monitoring groups said election officials canvassed the annexed regions accompanied by Russian troops — claims Moscow has not addressed.
Previously:
The Moscow Times
Drone Attacks Disrupt First Day of Voting in Southern Russia and Occupied Ukraine
- The Moscow Times
Ukrainian drone strikes disrupted the work of election workers at polling stations in southern Russia and parts of occupied Ukraine, Russian author...
🇷🇺 Russia – Sunday, 20 September 2026
**Duma vote extends into annexed Ukraine**
Russia's three-day parliamentary election, concluding today, for the first time includes residents of four annexed Ukrainian regions — a move Kyiv and Western governments call illegitimate, which Moscow presents as a normal exercise of sovereignty. Ukrainian drones disrupted polling in Krasnodar and Luhansk; Moscow's mayor said over 350 drones targeted the capital Friday.
Previously: View quoted note →
View quoted note →
The Moscow Times
Drone Attacks Disrupt First Day of Voting in Southern Russia and Occupied Ukraine
- The Moscow Times
Ukrainian drone strikes disrupted the work of election workers at polling stations in southern Russia and parts of occupied Ukraine, Russian author...