The death toll from an overnight attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv region climbed to four, while a sweeping wave of drones aimed at Moscow and the surrounding region killed at least two people and damaged a major oil refinery.
Three children were among those killed in Ukraine, regional authorities said today.
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A Russian drone strike destroyed a private home in the Kyiv region, killing a mother and her two three-year-old children, emergency services officials said.
Separately, a girl died in hospital after a drone strike in another district, according to Kyiv regional governor Tymur Tkachanko.
The southwestern Fastiv district suffered the heaviest damage. Twenty-four sites were hit, including residential properties, industrial and utility facilities, the grounds of an agricultural enterprise and vehicles, Mr Tkachanko said.
Russian forces have launched near-continuous drone attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region in recent weeks.
Hundreds of drones target Moscow and surrounding region
In Moscow, meanwhile, hundreds of drones targeted the capital and nearby areas on the final day of Russia’s parliamentary elections, killing at least two people and damaging a major refinery, authorities said today.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted and destroyed, including 450 that were headed toward the capital.
He accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt a tightly controlled three-day election expected to cement President Vladimir Putin’s 26-year hold on power.
“The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” Mr Sobyanin said on Telegram.
Moscow regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov said on social media that two people — a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man — had been killed at separate locations.
A woman casting her ballot in the Donetsk region of Russian-controlled Ukraine earlier this week
A drone that crashed into a 21-storey building also sparked a fire and prompted the evacuation of 400 people, Mr Vorobyov said. He did not identify where the drones had come from.
The attacks followed an intensification of Kyiv’s long-range drone campaign against Russia in recent months, with energy infrastructure among its main targets. Such facilities represent a crucial source of Kremlin revenue for financing the war, now in its fifth year.
“A facility on the territory of the Moscow Oil Refinery has been damaged,” Mr Sobyanin said, adding that no casualties had been reported there and that emergency crews were responding.
The major refinery has been struck by Ukrainian attacks several times in recent months.
The latest assault came after US President Donald Trump said last Monday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to attack each other’s energy facilities.
It also took place as Russians voted from Friday in the country’s first parliamentary election since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, beginning a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Only parties backing Mr Putin and the Kremlin’s military campaign were registered to contest the vote. Moscow also arranged voting in occupied areas of Ukraine.
Although few Russians expect anything other than another decisive victory for Mr Putin’s United Russia party, the election provides a measure of public support for the war.
