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MOSCOW: Ukraine launched what Moscow’s mayor called the biggest drone attack yet on the Russian capital on Sunday, as Russians voted on the final day of a parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a test of support for the war in Ukraine.
In response to the drone attacks, Russia vowed to “intensify” its strikes on Kyiv, as an exit poll showed the ruling United Russia party on course to win the parliamentary elections.
The drone strikes killed two people in the Moscow region and two more in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, including an election official, according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and election authorities. A facility at Moscow’s oil refinery, which has been targeted before, was also damaged.
“The biggest attack by enemy drones has been repelled,” Sobyanin said on Telegram. “This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed.”
The State Duma vote, the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022, is expected to see the ruling United Russia party easily retain its majority.
The Kremlin is likely to present the outcome as evidence of public backing for Putin’s policies and for the war, in its fifth year with no sign of ending.
The election authorities say the three days of voting have proceeded smoothly despite cyberattacks reported on Saturday. Turnout was at over 50 per cent by early afternoon Moscow time, Interfax news agency reported, citing the Central Election Commission.
Complete results would be available on Monday.
In a televised address before the election, Putin told the nation that the vote would underline support for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine. “Your choice, and your will, will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our soldiers, that we are a united people bound together by shar ed values, historical memory, and love for our homeland, and that no one will succeed in dividing or intimidating us,” he said.
Most anti-war candidates have been barred from the ballot. Those who did run from the liberal Yabloko party, which has polled in the single digits in recent years, said they feared for their freedom after courts handed jail terms to two senior party figures before the vote for comments about the conflict. Source: The Dawn.
