Deadly Ukrainian Drone Swarm Targets Moscow During Parliamentary Elections, Officials Say

Plumes of smoke rise from fires at an oil refinery following what authorities describe as a Ukrainian drone strike in Moscow, Russia, on September 20, 2026. At least two people have lost their lives and a major refinery has sustained damage after hundreds of drones targeted the Russian capital and its surrounding region on the final day of the nation's parliamentary elections.

Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated on Sunday that more than 1,600 drones were intercepted and shot down, with 450 of those targeting Moscow directly. He accused Ukraine of attempting to sabotage the tightly controlled three-day election, which is expected to reinforce President Vladimir Putin’s 26-year hold on power. "The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed," Sobyanin shared on Telegram.

According to Moscow regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov, a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man were killed in separate locations during the assault. A drone crashing into a 21-storey building triggered a fire that forced the evacuation of 400 residents, Vorobyov added.

The strikes coincide with an intensified long-range drone campaign by Kyiv directed at Russian energy infrastructure, seeking to disrupt a primary source of Kremlin revenue funding the ongoing war, which has now entered its fifth year. "A facility on the territory of the Moscow Oil Refinery has been damaged," Sobyanin noted, adding that emergency crews were responding to the scene and no casualties had been reported at the refinery yet. The facility has faced previous Ukrainian strikes in recent months. This latest assault follows statements made by US President Donald Trump indicating that Ukraine and Russia had previously agreed to avoid targeting each other's energy facilities.

The attacks occurred as citizens cast ballots in Russia's first parliamentary elections since troops were sent into Ukraine in February 2022, a conflict that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties. Voting was also organized by Moscow in regions of Ukraine captured during the four-and-a-half-year war. Meanwhile, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported that Ukraine’s Air Force Command stated Russia launched 138 various types of drones overnight, with air defences successfully neutralizing or shooting down 101 of them.