Listen to this articleDear 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated using AI-based technology. Pronunciation errors may occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve results. Russia’s ruling United Russia party was on track to easily win a parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has presented as evidence of support for war in Ukraine, partial official results showed on Sunday, after Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on the Russian capital. The communists, the ultranationalist LDPR, the New People party and the Fair Russia party, which vote the same way as United Russia on important issues, were trailing by a wide margin but were on track to gain seats in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former president, was quick to declare that United Russia had performed with dignity, a result he said showed that the Russians had entrusted him with governing more. Russian government officials accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt the State Duma vote, the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022, after kyiv launched hundreds of drones into Moscow and other regions in what state news agency TASS said was the largest such attack since the war began. Members of a local electoral commission empty a ballot box in a Russian-controlled city in Ukraine on Sunday. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters) Drone strikes killed three people in the Moscow region and two more in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, including an election official, according to the region’s governor and the electoral commission. A facility at the Moscow oil refinery, which had previously been attacked, was also damaged. As voting took place in the capital, flames and huge plumes of smoke rose from the site on the outskirts. “The largest attack by enemy drones has been repelled,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram. “This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy was not successful.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine had also fired Flamingo cruise missiles and shot down nearly 2,000 Ukrainian drones targeting several regions and eight cruise missiles in the past 24 hours. It said it would step up its own attacks on Ukrainian military targets in response. Alleged cyberattacks Voting systems also faced waves of cyberattacks, according to election authorities, who said the election process had nonetheless been largely smooth. However, it was unclear what impact that had on the overall result. The Kremlin is likely to present the results as evidence of public support for Putin’s policies and the war, now in its fifth year and with no signs of ending soon. NHL star Ovechkin appears in a Putin ad:Ovechkin appears in a Putin campaign ad. NHL says nothing Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin appeared in a campaign commercial endorsing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political party, United Russia. The NHL declined to comment on the announcement, saying it would leave it up to the team. Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), said the latest attacks had not deterred voters. “The more they push us, the more we see an unprecedented level of what I would call public unity,” the RIA news agency said. Turnout had reached almost 57 percent by early afternoon Moscow time, CEC data showed. Most pacifist candidates were excluded from the elections. Those running in the liberal Yabloko party, which has polled in the single digits in recent years but was hoping to take advantage of war fatigue, said they feared for their freedom after courts handed long prison sentences to two senior party figures before the vote for comments about the conflict. How Putin chases his critics who fled Russia: How Putin chases his enemies out of Russia For critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin who have fled the country, escape does not mean safety. For The National, CBC’s Terence McKenna looks at how the Kremlin uses transnational repression to intimidate, harass and eliminate enemies beyond Russia’s borders. Discrediting the military or spreading what authorities consider fake news is punishable by long prison sentences. In a small act of defiance, Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov clearly annulled his ballot, writing his party’s name and the motto “For Peace.” The Kremlin says national unity and some censorship are necessary during what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine. It presents the conflict – the deadliest in Europe since World War II – as part of an existential struggle with a hostile West. Moscow says Ukrainian intelligence services and other enemies are stepping up efforts to provoke unrest inside Russia. ‘Pseudo election’ kyiv, which has suspended elections under martial law, has dismissed the Russian vote as a “pseudo election.” Kremlin at a time of economic tension. He said the Communist Party and the New People’s Party could attract votes that authorities would prefer went to United Russia. “The consequences of the war are being increasingly felt within the country, and the pent-up anxiety and frustration may translate into votes for the systemic opposition parties that the Kremlin has allowed to remain in the polls,” the think tank said in a note.
