Mass Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow kills two, Russia says

Moscow and regional officials reported a large-scale drone assault on the capital and its environs on the final day of Russia’s parliamentary elections, saying two people were killed and a major refinery sustained damage. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted and shot down, and said 450 of those were en route to Moscow. He described the operation as planned to disrupt the vote and accused Ukraine of election interference. Moscow regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov said a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man were killed in two separate locations. Vorobyov also reported that a drone struck a 21-storey residential building and ignited a fire that prompted the evacuation of about 400 people. Emergency services were dispatched to multiple sites, officials said. Sobyanin added that a facility at the Moscow Oil Refinery was damaged in the attacks; the refinery has been targeted in previous strikes in recent months. The incidents come amid an escalation of long-range Ukrainian drone operations that have frequently focused on energy infrastructure, which Ukrainian and external commentators say is a revenue source used to support Russia’s military campaign. Ukrainian Air Force Command, quoted by Interfax-Ukraine, said Russia had launched 138 drones across the country overnight and that air defences had shot down or neutralised 101 of them. The Moscow incidents also followed a recent public claim by US President Donald Trump that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other’s energy facilities. Voting was under way in Russia and in areas occupied by Russian forces as the parliamentary election concluded.