Moscow, Sept 20. (dpa/GNA) – Russia’s first parliamentary election since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, drew to a close on Sunday, as massive Ukrainian drone attacks hit Moscow, with Russian officials accusing Kiev of trying to disrupt the vote.
The election, is set to deliver another resounding victory for United Russia, President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party.
Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, said the attacks were intended to derail voting for the new State Duma, the lower house of parliament. She also accused Ukraine of launching cyberattacks against Russia’s online voting system, but said attempts to disrupt the election had failed.
Moscow Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, similarly accused Kiev of seeking to “sabotage” the election after the Russian capital and surrounding region came under heavy drone attack.
He described it as the “largest attack by enemy drones on Moscow,” saying 450 drones heading for the capital had been intercepted. Some drones nonetheless reached the grounds of a Moscow oil refinery, Sobyanin acknowledged. Images showed fire and dark smoke rising from the site, which has previously been targeted by Ukraine.
At least three people were killed in the wider Moscow region, while regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov said at least 20 people were injured in Ukrainian attacks.
Fires broke out in several locations, residential buildings were damaged and hundreds of people were evacuated, according to Russian officials.
Restrictions were also imposed at all four of Moscow’s airports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed attacks on the Moscow region, saying one of Russia’s key oil industry facilities and a logistics site had been hit.
Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had used several types of weapons, including drones and Flamingo and Pelican missiles. Ukrainian media have described the Pelican as a ballistic missile, developed by Ukrainian company Fire Point. The company has given its range as up to 200 kilometres, however, which would not be sufficient to reach Moscow from Ukrainian-controlled territory. If confirmed, it would be the first known use of the weapon.
Zelensky also mentioned an attack on a facility in Russia’s Voronezh region, which borders Ukraine, and called on Moscow to end its war.
Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said 43 drones had been intercepted over the region. Two people were injured and houses and cars were damaged, according to the governor.
Ukraine, which has been defending itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion since February 2022, has increasingly targeted sites deep inside Russia, particularly oil facilities that provide an important source of revenue for Moscow’s war effort.
More than 110 million Russians were eligible to vote over three days from Friday to Sunday, in the first State Duma election since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Turnout had exceeded 50% by early Sunday afternoon, according to the Central Election Commission. Official turnout in the previous parliamentary election in 2021 was 51.7%.
The first results were expected after the last polling stations close at 8 pm (1800 GMT) in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.
The Kremlin-loyal United Russia party was expected to secure a clear victory. Following the exclusion of opposition forces, all 10 parties on the ballot are considered close to the Kremlin and supportive of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Putin accused Ukraine over the weekend of attempting to prevent Russians from exercising their right to vote, while noting that Kiev itself does not hold elections under martial law.
Russian elections have long been criticized as neither free nor fair. The anti-war Yabloko party, which was excluded from the election, and other groups reported alleged violations from the first day of voting, including election observers being denied access to polling stations.
Government employees also reported pressure to vote, while there were allegations of ballot stuffing. Some voters said they had not received ballot papers and had instead been registered for online voting without their knowledge.
Pamfilova also accused Ukraine of violence aimed at disrupting voting in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. She said two people, including a member of a local election commission, were killed when a drone struck a bus in the Russian-controlled part of the Kherson region.
Putin had earlier accused Ukraine of killing an election official in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhya region. The claims could not be independently verified.
Despite protests from Kiev, voting was held in Russian-controlled parts of the annexed Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson. Voting also took place in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukraine does not recognize the results, while the international community regards the holding of elections in occupied Ukrainian territory as a violation of international law.
GNA