United Russia leads Duma vote with 57.9% as drone strikes hit Moscow

United Russia leads parliamentary count

With 50.03% of ballots counted in the proportional race for the Ninth State Duma, the governing United Russia party holds 57.87% of the vote, according to preliminary figures from the Russian Central Election Commission. An earlier state television exit poll placed the party at 49.4%, slightly below the 49.8% share that delivered 324 of 550 seats in the 2021 election. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation stands in second place with 13.79%, followed by the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia at 8.80%, New People at 7.86%, and A Just Russia at 5.11%. Smaller parties, including the Party of Pensioners at 2.16% and the Green Party at 1.03%, remained below the 5% parliamentary threshold. The election commission recorded overall turnout at 56% across three days of voting, up from 51.7% in 2021. In Saint Petersburg, Nikolai Rybakov, leader of the excluded opposition party Yabloko, cast an invalidated ballot marked "for peace" after showing it to journalists.

Drone strikes hit Moscow and Kapotnya refinery

The concluding day of voting coincided with Ukrainian drone and missile strikes across several Russian regions, marking the most intense assault on the capital since 2022. Overnight strikes hit the Kapotnya oil refinery in south-eastern Moscow, causing fires in surrounding structures. Russian officials confirmed two deaths, a woman and an elderly man, with 20 others injured, including three children. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that air defenses intercepted 1,951 drones and eight long-range cruise missiles over 24 hours from Saturday evening, asserting that all Flamingo missiles aimed at Moscow were destroyed. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha celebrated the action and addressed the leadership in the Kremlin.

Now that the war has arrived home, Russians have only one person to blame: Putin. The message for him is simple: look out the window of the Kremlin, see the flames over Moscow and end this war.

Following the strikes, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces would intensify attacks against military targets in Kyiv.

Frontline advances and industrial escalation

In eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian troops reported territorial gains in the Donetsk region under an offensive designated Operation Vivaldi. Third Army Corps commander Andriy Biletsky stated that Ukrainian units liberated the villages of Shandryholove and Derylove and consolidated full control over Drobysheve. Biletsky noted that the operation's second phase recovered 40 square kilometers of territory, bringing the two-phase total to 125 square kilometers, of which 50 square kilometers were direct recaptures. He added that Russian forces lost roughly 800 military personnel during the second phase. Meanwhile, sources cited by Politico reported that Russia is expanding the Rosatom-owned Alabuga-Volokno industrial plant to increase output of military-grade carbon fiber, enabling the production of an additional 28,000 attack drones each year.