September 21, 2026 | 03:44 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Russia promised to step up high-precision strikes on Kyiv after Ukraine launched a massive drone assault on Moscow and surrounding regions during the final day of Russia's parliamentary elections.
"In response to the Kyiv regime’s attacks on civilian targets within Russia, the Russian army will continue and intensify its high-accuracy strikes against military targets in Kyiv," the Russian Defense Ministry stated, as reported by The Guardian.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the assault as one of the largest on the capital since 2022, claiming air defenses intercepted over 1,600 drones nationwide, including 450 heading toward Moscow. Independent estimates cited by The Guardian, however, placed the number of deployed Ukrainian drones in the low hundreds.
The strikes killed at least three people in the Moscow region and sparked a fire in a 21-story residential building, forcing 400 evacuations. Drones also struck the Moscow Oil Refinery.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the focus on energy assets, stating on social media that the facility provides "billions of dollars to sustain the war machine," as reported by DW. Zelenskyy added, "Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions."
Russian officials accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt the voting process. Mayor Sobyanin posted on Telegram that the "unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections," adding that "the enemy did not succeed."
Preliminary results from the Central Election Commission showed the ruling United Russia party leading with nearly 58 percent of the vote, The Guardian reported. The elections included voting in occupied Ukrainian territories, which Kyiv and the European Union denounced as illegal.
Concurrently, Russian air strikes in the Kyiv region killed four people, including three children. Emergency services reported that a mother and her twin 3-year-old children died when a drone hit their house, while Governor Tymur Tkachenko confirmed another girl died in hospital.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its strikes hit a Fire Point defense warehouse near Kyiv and logistics sites in Odesa, according to DW.
Read: Russian Voters in Indonesia Hope Election Strengthens Bilateral Ties
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