Moscow, Sept. 20 (SANA)Russia’s parliamentary election entered its final day Sunday asMoscowcame under what its mayor described as the largest drone attack on the capital since the war inUkrainebegan.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian forces had repelled the attack, with 450 drones heading toward Moscow among more than 1,600 he said had been downed across different fronts since Saturday.“This unprecedented attack was clearly planned to disrupt the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” Sobyanin said on Telegram according to Reuters.Local authorities said two people were killed in the Moscow region. The Moscow oil refinery, which has previously been targeted, also came under attack, while the extent of the damage was not immediately clear.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had struck an oil refinery in the Moscow region overnight, describing it as an important facility for Russia’s oil industry.

The attacks came as voting entered its third and final day in Russia’s parliamentary election, the first since Moscow launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022.President Vladimir Putin has presented the vote as a demonstration of public support for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. The ruling United Russia party is expected to retain its dominance, while critics of the Russian political system say opposition groups face extensive restrictions.Most prominent anti-war figures have been barred from running. Candidates from the liberal Yabloko party have said they fear further pressure after two senior party figures received lengthy prison sentences over comments about the war that Russian authorities deemed illegal.Russian election officials said Moscow’s electronic voting system came under a cyberattack Saturday. Ukraine, which has suspended elections under martial law, has rejected the Russian vote as a “sham election.”Putin on Friday accused Kyiv of attempting to interfere in the election, citing an alleged Ukrainian attack that killed an election official in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Reuters said it could not independently verify the circumstances of the incident, while Kyiv had not commented.Separately, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova as saying a drone strike on a civilian bus killed two people, including an election official, in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Kherson region.

Kyiv region reports four killed

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities said four people, including three children, were killed in Russian drone attacks on the Kyiv region.Ukraine’s emergency service said a mother and her two 3-year-old children died after a drone struck a private home. A girl died in hospital following a separate attack, according to regional authorities.Officials said 31 sites across five districts were damaged, with the Fastiv area southwest of Kyiv among the hardest hit.

Russia reports strikes on Ukrainian targets

Russia’s Defense Ministry separately said its forces struck a warehouse belonging to Ukrainian drone and missile manufacturer Fire Point in the Kyiv region, as well as a cargo ship at the port of Odesa and a logistics center in the Odesa region that Moscow said was being used to transport military supplies.Preliminary results from the Russian election are expected to begin emerging at around 1800 GMT Sunday, with near-complete results expected Monday.