Ukraine Executes Largest Drone Attack Against Moscow.. What We Know About the Election Day Strikes

- Ukraine carried out the largest drone attack ever on Sunday, targeting the Russian capital Moscow and its surrounding areas, coinciding with the last day of the Russian elections. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that it shot down more than 1,900 drones, 8 guided aerial bombs, 8 cruise missiles, and 4 other missiles during the night.

This toll makes it the largest attack of its kind launched by Ukraine, although Kyiv has not confirmed the exact number of drones and projectiles it fired. The attack resulted in the deaths of at least three people and caused damage to a major oil refinery in the Moscow region.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin linked the attack to the voting process, noting that the aim of the strikes was clear: "to disrupt the elections," adding, "the enemy did not succeed." The attack came on the third and final day of the first parliamentary elections held by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In the absence of any credible opposition, the ruling party "United Russia," led by President Vladimir Putin, is widely expected to win. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the attack on Russia in a statement via the Telegram app, but did not mention the elections.

The areas witnessing voting include four Ukrainian regions that Russia has illegally annexed, although they are not fully under Kremlin control. Zelensky stated, "Our long-range responses had a significant impact in the Moscow region last night," adding that the targeted facilities were generating "billions of dollars that fuel the war machine."

The Ukrainian General Staff later reported that the main target of the attack was the "Gazprom Neft-Moscow" refinery in the Kapotnya district of the Russian capital; this facility is one of the largest refineries in the country in terms of production volume. Sobyanin stated that about 450 drones approaching the capital were shot down.

He said: "However, several drones reached the area of the oil refinery in Moscow, and one of them hit a residential building." The Governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, mentioned that three people lost their lives; two due to the attack and the third later died in the hospital.

He also noted that 20 others were injured, including three children, in the attacks that occurred overnight. In a related context, local authorities reported that nine people were injured in the Belgorod region of southern Russia.

At the same time, Russia continued its attacks on Ukraine using drones and missiles. The head of the military administration of the Kyiv region, Tymur Tkachynko, stated that the attacks launched overnight and into Sunday morning resulted in the deaths of three children and a woman.

Russia has been conducting near-continuous airstrikes on Ukraine - particularly Kyiv - for nearly a month. Zelensky stated on Sunday that Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 19 missiles of various types against Ukraine just this week.