Ukraine directed the largest drone barrage of the year at Moscow and surrounding areas over the weekend, Russian officials said Sunday, as Russia wrapped the third and final day of parliamentary elections. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that air defenses downed more than 1,600 drones nationwide since Saturday, including about 450 aimed at the capital, while several unmanned aircraft still struck the Moscow Oil Refinery and residential buildings.
At least two people were killed and roughly 20 injured in Moscow Oblast, regional authorities said, with hundreds evacuated from a high-rise in Ramenskoye. Sobyanin called the assault unprecedented and said it was timed to disrupt the vote; he insisted the election proceeded. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukrainian long-range drones and missiles hit oil and logistics sites supporting Russia’s war effort, listing domestic systems including Flamingo and Pelican among weapons used.
What reached the city
Smoke rose from the Kapotnya refinery district southeast of central Moscow after multiple impacts, according to Reuters and NBC News footage. Sobyanin said a processing facility on refinery grounds was damaged but reported no deaths inside the city limits; one apartment building was also hit. Ukraine’s General Staff said strikes affected primary refining and isomerization units at the Gazprom Neft plant, roughly 15 kilometers from the Kremlin.
The scale of the wave—more than a thousand drones launched toward Russia in a single night, by Ukrainian and Western estimates—underscores how deeply both sides now trade long-range fire while ground combat moves slowly along the eastern front. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed more than 1,100 intercepts across the country, Crimea and the Black Sea, figures Kyiv has routinely disputed.
Election backdrop
Sunday marked the last day of balloting for the State Duma, the first such election since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. United Russia is expected to retain control in a process Western governments dismiss as neither free nor fair. Voting also took place in four Ukrainian regions Moscow claims to have annexed but does not fully hold, a status Zelenskyy’s government rejects.
Sobyanin’s messaging tied the drones directly to the ballot, a narrative Kremlin allies echoed on state television. Zelenskyy praised the operation’s military results without referencing the election timetable, focusing instead on curbing fuel supplies for Russian forces.
Kyiv’s long-range bet
Ukraine has invested heavily in domestic drone and missile production to strike airfields, refineries and ammunition depots far behind Russian lines. Sunday’s package mixed one-way attack drones with newer ballistic designs, according to Zelenskyy’s public list of systems involved. Western partners have eased some range restrictions on donated weapons, but much of the Moscow-bound firepower remains Ukrainian-built.
For voters in Moscow, the attack was a rare glimpse of war at the capital’s edge after years of intercepts farther out. For Ukraine, a successful refinery hit on election weekend offers a morale and economic blow even when most drones are shot down. Diplomatic talks remain stalled, and both capitals appear to be betting that sustained deep strikes will shape whatever cease-fire negotiations eventually emerge.
