Three killed as Moscow hit by ‘unprecedented’ drone attack during Russian election, authorities say
The strikes came as Russians headed to the polls on the final day of parliamentary elections
Three people have been killed and part of an oil refinery damaged in what Russian officials have described as the largest Ukrainian drone attack yet reported on the Moscow region.
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The strikes came as Russians headed to the polls on the final day of parliamentary elections.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 1,600 drones had been shot down since Saturday, including 450 which he claimed were heading towards the capital.
He said the attack had been planned to disrupt the vote.
“The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections,” he said in a Telegram post.
“The adversary failed to achieve this.”
Read more: Polls open in Russia as first elections since Putin invaded Ukraine kicks off
Russian authorities said several drones reached the grounds of the Moscow oil refinery, while another struck a residential building.
Two people were killed during the early-morning attacks, according to Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov.
A third later died in hospital from their injuries.
Around 400 residents, including 70 children, were evacuated from a 21-storey apartment block in the Ramenskoye district, south-east of Moscow.
Homes were also damaged elsewhere in the wider Moscow region.
One resident, named only as Vitaliy, described the moment debris tore through his building in the village of Sofyino.
“Glass went flying, people started screaming and shouting,” he said.
“I turned around and the entrance doors had already been blown out, debris everywhere.”
Witnesses in Moscow reported hearing explosions and seeing smoke rising near the refinery site.
The Moscow plant has been targeted several times during the war and is a significant part of Russia’s fuel supply network.
It processed 11.6 million tonnes of oil in 2024, producing almost 3 million tonnes of petrol and more than 3 million tonnes of diesel, according to the latest available figures.
Ukraine has not commented on the latest reported strikes.
Kyiv has stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, which it says supports Moscow’s war effort.
Those attacks have contributed to fuel shortages, higher prices and long queues at filling stations in parts of Russia.
Both Moscow and Kyiv say they do not deliberately target civilians.