Ukraine fires new homemade Pelican ballistic missile in largest attack on Moscow as Russian election polls closed
President Zelensky said the Pelican missile was deployed as part of its largest attack on Moscow since the war began
Ukraine fired a new domestically manufactured ballistic missile to hit a Moscow oil refinery on the final day of the Russian election, it has claimed.
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President Volodoymyr Zelensky said the Pelican missile was deployed as part of its largest attack on Moscow since the war began.
Sunday was the third and final day of voting in Russia's first parliamentary election since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The vote will elect a new State Duma, in what critics have described as a tightly controlled election, with serious opposition largely excluded.
Early results show the ruling United Russia party leading with 57.5% of the vote.
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Moscow is using the election to gauge levels of public support for the war in Ukraine, which entered its fourth year in February.
The Ukrainian drone attacks killed three people in the Moscow region.
A facility at Moscow's oil refinery, which has been targeted before, was also damaged.
As voting got underway in the capital, flames and huge columns of smoke rose from the site on its outskirts.
Mr Zelensky said: "“Last night, our long-range response strikes hit the Moscow region with significant impact.
“The operation involved, among others, the FP-1, RZ-100, MICH-2000, Palianytsia, Vendetta, Liutyi, Bars, Flamingo, Sichen, and Pelican.”
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram: "The biggest attack by enemy drones has been repelled.
"This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed."
Russia's Defence Ministry said Ukraine had also fired Flamingo cruise missiles and said it had downed nearly 2,000 Ukrainian drones targeting various regions and 8 cruise missiles in the last 24 hours.
It said it would intensify its own strikes on Ukrainian military targets in response.
The Pelican system finished testing earlier this month. It refers to the the FP-7 ground-launched ballistic missile developed by Ukrainian firm Fire Point.
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.