Moscow threatens to 'intensify' strikes on Kyiv in response to election day attacks

According to official results published by Russian news agencies after about half of the votes were counted, United Russia won 57.8% against 13.7% for the Communist Party and 8.7% for the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party.

This result for the ruling party secured a two-thirds majority in the State Duma, allowing it to amend the constitution, according to the Tass news agency.

An exit poll by a state-run organization showed that United Russia was on track to win 49.4% of the vote, close to what the party achieved in the previous elections.

Russian officials said Ukraine launched swarms of drone attacks targeting Moscow and its surroundings on the last day of the elections, resulting in two deaths and a fire at an oil refinery.

The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of seeking to "disrupt the democratic expression of the will of the Russian people"

It confirmed that Moscow would continue to "intensify strikes using high-precision weapons against military targets in Kyiv"

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the attack as "unprecedented" and "clearly planned to disrupt the elections"

He added, "The enemy did not succeed," noting that Russian air defenses shot down more than 1,600 drones, including "450 that were heading towards Moscow"

In contrast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the strikes. He said, "Our long-range operations had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night," confirming the use of about ten different types of weapons.

Zelenskyy said he had agreed to meet with US President Donald Trump in New York, following a phone conversation between the two on Sunday.

Moscow Governor Andrei Vorobiev said at least two people, a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man, were killed at two separate sites.

He added that about 400 people were evacuated from a 21-story building after a drone hit it.

Ukraine has targeted Russian infrastructure with drones throughout the war, in response to Russian bombardments of its towns and cities.

- Preliminary polls -

These elections, the first since Russia's large-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022, aim to renew the 450 seats of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. They are also held in the Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia.

An exit poll by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center showed United Russia winning 49.4% of the vote, with the Communist Party and the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party receiving 14.2% and 10.7%, respectively.

Former President Dmitry Medvedev, who heads United Russia, said his party seemed to have "performed excellently"

He was quoted by the state news agency RIA as saying, "We now need to put the president's decisions into action"

Only parties that support, to varying degrees, Putin and the war in Ukraine were allowed to participate in the elections, namely the "Communist Party of the Russian Federation", the nationalist "Liberal Democratic Party of Russia", the conservative "A Just Russia" and the liberal "New People" party.

The only party openly opposed to the war, "Yabloko", was initially allowed to participate, before being disqualified by the courts last month.

Valery Fedorov, director of the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, said, "For this reason, I believe that the result for United Russia will be higher, while the results for the opposition parties will be lower"

Putin had urged Russians to participate, describing the vote as an expression of support for the army and a "response to those who want to weaken Russia"

Major Kremlin political opponents were forced into exile, while the main opponent to Putin, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison in 2024.

Navalny's widow, Yulia, called on Russians opposed to the war to vote en masse on Sunday, a move that had attracted large crowds during the 2024 presidential elections.

In Berlin, which hosts one of the largest Russian diaspora communities, dozens of exiled opposition supporters demonstrated chanting, "Russia will be free!" and "No to war!", as seen by an AFP journalist.

In London, about a hundred people gathered in front of the Russian embassy, according to an AFP photographer. Some held Ukrainian flags, while others carried signs reading, "Say no to Putin"

The European Union condemned the holding of the elections in an atmosphere of "systematic and institutional repression"

The first official results and turnout are expected to be announced on Monday morning.

- Cyberattacks -

The election commission announced that it had detected "more than a thousand" waves of attacks aimed at overwhelming the electronic voting system with requests, as well as attacks targeting "Russia's telecommunications infrastructure in general"

Distributed denial-of-service attacks aim to disrupt systems by flooding them with a continuous stream of requests.

Commission head Ella Pamfilova said, "The attacks were carried out by highly professional and well-coordinated groups using artificial intelligence tools," noting attempts that bore "signs of Ukrainian involvement"

Pamfilova had announced on Saturday that the systems had been subjected to a "strong cyber attack" without being disrupted.

Russians are facing Western economic sanctions, frequent Ukrainian strikes, fuel shortages and internet service restrictions in several regions.

Vitaly Ivanov, a 63-year-old retired Moscow Metro employee, told AFP on Sunday that he voted for the "Communists"

He added, "I receive a small pension that is not enough to live on"