Story summary
On September 20, 2026, Ukraine launched what was described as the largest drone attack ever against the Russian capital, Moscow, during the final day of Russia's parliamentary elections. More than 1,600 drones were intercepted and shot down across Russia, with 450 targeting Moscow specifically. Two people were killed in the attacks: a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man, both in separate incidents in the Moscow region. Additionally, a major oil refinery near Moscow was damaged by one of the drones.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt the tightly controlled elections, which were held from September 18-20. President Vladimir Putin's ruling party is expected to maintain its dominance in the vote, reflecting his ongoing control over Russian politics since New Year’s Eve 1999.
Ukraine has been stepping up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure recently, targeting critical revenue sources for Russia's war effort in Ukraine, which entered its fifth year. The timing of these drone strikes coincided with Putin’s framing of the election as a referendum on support for his military actions.
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Huge fires burned through Moscow overnight following one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks in the Russian capital, which left two people dead.
Ukraine and Russia have continued attacks on each other's energy infrastructure despite an announcement by US President Donald Trump on Monday that they had agreed to stop.
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they → see → Monday
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel that the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks had been thwarted, with Russia downing more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including 450 headed for Moscow.
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Russia → say → Moscow
Several drones reached the premises of the Moscow oil refinery, and one hit an apartment, Sobyanin said.
The latest attack from Ukraine comes as Russia entered its third and final day of a parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a test of support for Russia's war in Ukraine.
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Putin → reach → Ukraine
'The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections,' Sobyanin said.
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Sobyanin → plan → elections
'The adversary failed to achieve this.'
A major warehouse in a logistics hub in the nearby town of Sofyino was also struck, killing a woman and injuring five others - including two children.
Elsewhere in the Orekhovo-Zuevsky district, an elderly man was killed by a downed drone.
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man → fail → drone
Plumes of smoke rise from fires (right) at an oil refinery following what the authorities say is a Ukrainian drone strike in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Moscow, Russia, September, 20, 2026
Smoke blankets Moscow following a strike on an oil refinery
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Smoke → rise → refinery
The latest Ukrainian strikes started fires across the Moscow region
Two people were killed in the latest attack
Images showed how thick black smoke blanketed part of the city as it billowed from the site of the Moscow refinery.
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it → start → refinery
The scale of any damage to the facility was not immediately known, while all four of Moscow's main airports faced major disruption as the capital's airspace was closed.
Ukrainian strikes have knocked out a significant part of Russia's oil refining capacity, triggering oil product shortages, fuel price increases and long queues at filling stations in many regions across the country's 11 time zones.
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strikes → know → zones
The Moscow plant, which has been targeted multiple times, processed 11.6 million metric tons of oil in 2024, producing 2.9 million tons of gasoline and 3.2 million tons of diesel, the latest available data shows.
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data → target → diesel
Ukraine has not commented on the attacks.
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Ukraine → comment → attacks
Both sides say they do not target civilians.
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they → say → civilians
In the wider Moscow region, in addition to the two deaths, 400 people, including 70 children, were evacuated from a 21-storey apartment block in the Ramenskoye district, and many homes were damaged, said Governor Andrei Vorobyov.
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Vorobyov → include → district
Russians began three days of voting on Friday in the country's first wartime parliamentary election.
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Russians → begin → election
The State Duma vote is expected to see the ruling United Russia party easily retain its dominance in a political system critics say does not tolerate dissent.
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critics → expect → dissent
A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment building following a drone attack in Kotelniki in the Moscow region on September 20, 2026
People gather outside a damaged residential building following what authorities described as a Ukrainian drone strike, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Sofyino settlement in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region, Russia, September, 20, 2026
The Kremlin is likely to present the outcome as evidence of public backing for Putin's policies and for the war, Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two, now in its fifth year with no sign of ending soon.
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Kremlin → show → sign
Most anti-war candidates were barred from the ballot.
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candidates → bar → ballot
Those who did run from the liberal Yabloko party, which has polled in the single digits in recent years but hoped to tap into war fatigue, said they feared for their freedom after courts handed long jail terms to two senior party figures before the vote for comments about the conflict deemed illegal by authorities.
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courts → run → authorities
Discrediting the army or spreading what authorities regard as fake news are punishable by lengthy prison sentences.
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authorities → discredit → sentences
In a small act of defiance, Yabloko's leader, Nikolai Rybakov, demonstratively spoiled his ballot paper, writing his party's name and the slogan 'For peace'.
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leader → spoil → peace
The Kremlin says national unity and some censorship are necessary during what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
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it → say → Ukraine
It casts the conflict as part of an existential struggle with a hostile West and says Ukrainian intelligence services and other enemies are stepping up efforts to stir unrest inside Russia.
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services → cast → Russia
Russian electoral officials said on Saturday that an online voting system in Moscow had come under cyberattack.
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system → say → cyberattack
Citizens cast their ballots at a polling station in Moscow, Russia, on September 19, 2026, during the country's parliamentary elections
Russian President Vladimir Putin votes online in the parliamentary election in Moscow, Russia, September 18, 2026
Kyiv, which has suspended elections under martial law, has dismissed the Russian vote as a 'pseudo election'.
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which → cast → election
Putin on Friday also accused Ukraine of trying to interfere in the election, citing what he said was a Ukrainian strike on the home of an election official in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region that killed Elena Astanina, the official.
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that → accuse → Astanina
Despite what experts see as the election's predictable outcome, the NEST think-tank in Berlin, co-founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whom Russian authorities have designated 'a foreign agent', said the vote could still produce awkward moments for the Kremlin at a time of economic strain.
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vote → see → strain
'The consequences of the war are increasingly being felt within the country, and accumulated anxiety and frustration may translate into votes for the systemic opposition parties that the Kremlin has allowed to remain on the ballot,' it said in a note.
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it → feel → note
It said the Communist Party and the New People Party could attract votes the authorities would prefer to go to United Russia.
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authorities → say → Russia
Both parties have consistently voted in line with United Russia on major issues.
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parties → vote → issues
Putin told the nation in a televised address before the election that the vote would underline support for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.
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vote → tell → Ukraine
'Your choice, and your will, will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our soldiers, that we are a united people bound together by shared values, historical memory, and love for our homeland, and that no one will succeed in dividing or intimidating us,' said Putin.
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Putin → demonstrate → us
Initial results are expected to start emerging at around 1800 GMT on Sunday, with more complete results available on Monday.
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results → expect → Monday
The Aporia
