Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia on Sunday, September 20, 2026, with hundreds targeting Moscow in what the capital’s mayor called the largest attack of the war, coinciding with the final day of Russia’s tightly controlled parliamentary elections.
The massive aerial barrage struck deep into Russian territory, hitting industrial and logistics facilities while citizens cast ballots across the country’s 11 time zones. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that air defenses intercepted more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, with 450 directed specifically at the capital region.
Casualties and Oil Refinery Damage Reported in Moscow Region
The strikes caused structural damage and casualties across the Moscow region. Regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov confirmed that a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man were killed in separate locations. A drone crash triggered a fire in a 21-storey residential building, forcing the emergency evacuation of 400 residents. Emergency services also responded to a damaged facility at the Moscow oil refinery. The major industrial site has repeatedly been targeted in recent months as part of an ongoing Ukrainian campaign to disrupt fuel supplies and cut off vital Kremlin revenue.
Elections Interrupted on the Final Day of Voting
The aerial assault struck on the final day of voting for Russia’s ninth State Duma, the first parliamentary election held since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kremlin critics noted that the ballot proceeded with virtually no registered opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party. Russian officials maintained that the security disruptions failed to derail the electoral process. Central Election Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova reported turnout exceeding 45% by late Sunday morning.
“The biggest attack by enemy drones has been repelled. This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed.”
Kyiv Defends Long-Range Strikes and Demands New Sanctions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy openly praised the operation, emphasizing the economic blow dealt to Moscow’s military capabilities. Writing on social media, he pointed to the deployment of domestically manufactured weaponry, including Pelican and Flamingo missiles alongside long-range drones.
State Department announcement approving a potential $2.68 billion sale of air defense equipment to Ukraine. Simultaneously, heavy fighting continued across the front lines. Regional authorities in Kyiv reported that a separate Russian drone strike on Saturday night killed a mother and her two children, while attacks in the Kherson region struck a local monastery, leaving clergy members and civilians wounded. Ukrainian forces fired more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including hundreds that were launched toward Moscow, officials said Sunday, September 20, as the Kremlin was wrapping up the third and last day of its parliamentary elections. Moscow’s mayor described the wave of drones as the “largest ever” attack on the Russian capital and said there had been damage to a Moscow oil refinery and a residential building. Across the wider Moscow region, the attack killed two people and wounded 20, local Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. The dead were a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, he said. Writing on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv had used a range of missiles and drones in the attack—including Ukraine’s domestically made Flamingo and Pelican missiles—to hit oil and logistics facilities. These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine,
Zelenskyy said, referring to the financial pressure that Kyiv hopes to put on Russia’s economy. The voting underway in Russia is the country’s first wartime parliamentary election—balloting that has been virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies and is all but certain to cement the Kremlin’s dominance. Russia was also holding the vote in the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed, along with the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014, in an effort to legitimize its occupation.
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