Dozens of drones strike Moscow region and Kyiv on final day of Russian election
Air defenses downed over 180 drones around Moscow as at least two people died in residential strikes, while reciprocal Russian attacks killed three in Kyiv during parliamentary voting.
Drones target Moscow region on election day
Ukrainian drone strikes hit the Moscow capital region during the early hours of Sunday, 20 September 2026, coinciding with the final day of Russia's parliamentary elections. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin stated via state news agency Tass that air defense units had intercepted more than 180 incoming drones since midnight. According to official Moscow figures, Russian air defenses and electronic warfare systems downed a total of 249 drones between 03:00 and 05:00. Moscow Oblast Governor Andrey Vorobyov reported that drone strikes killed at least two people and injured several others when unmanned aerial vehicles struck two residential buildings. The reported figures could not be independently verified.
- Russian air defenses and electronic warfare systems intercept 249 drones across the Moscow region
- Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announces that more than 180 incoming drones were intercepted since midnight
- First official election tallies scheduled for release in the Russian State Duma parliamentary vote
Damage to infrastructure and residential sites
The overnight drone strikes inflicted physical damage across several locations in the Moscow metropolitan area. In the Ramenskoye district, a drone struck a 21-story residential building, igniting a blaze that prompted emergency services to evacuate 400 residents, including 70 children. Outside the residential building, at least 20 vehicles were destroyed or heavily damaged. Strikes also targeted energy and industrial infrastructure, causing a fire at the Moscow oil refinery and damaging a thermal power plant in Lyubertsy. In the Sofino industrial zone, an impact caused the Sovremennye Skladskie Tekhnologii logistics complex to catch fire, leading to a large-scale evacuation of workers and trucks. Ukrainian defense manufacturer Fire Point issued a statement taking responsibility for the strike in Sofino, confirming the use of FP-1 long-range drones.
Russian drone strikes kill three in Kyiv
While drones struck targets across the Moscow area, Russian forces conducted drone attacks against the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the surrounding region. Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv military administration, announced on Telegram that at least three people were killed in the attacks. Tkachenko stated that the victims were a mother and her two young children. The concurrent attacks resulted in civilian fatalities in both capitals on Sunday morning as air defense forces in both countries engaged incoming unmanned aircraft.
- Kyiv
- 3 people
- Moscow region
- 2 people
Parliamentary election concludes across Russia
The military strikes occurred as Russia concluded three days of voting to elect 450 deputies to the State Duma. Russian election authorities reported that voter turnout across the first two days surpassed 40%, with more than 110 million citizens eligible to participate. President Vladimir Putin urged citizens to vote as a contribution to the country's military campaign against Ukraine, with the ruling United Russia party seeking to secure a two-thirds majority. United Russia included dozens of war veterans on its candidate list, while anti-war opposition candidates and the Yabloko party were barred from running. Ten Kremlin-aligned parties appeared on the ballot, with independent election monitors reporting voting irregularities before some monitors were detained. Voting took place for the first time in Russian-controlled sectors of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, alongside Crimea, drawing condemnation from Ukrainian officials who refused to recognize the results. Initial election results were scheduled for publication at 20:00 CEST.
