Russians began voting Friday in a three-day parliamentary election for the 450-seat State Duma — the first since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — as Ukraine launched a massive drone barrage on the Russian capital and other regions, Reuters and Al Jazeera reported, citing AP and Reuters.
President Vladimir Putin framed the tightly controlled vote as a barometer of support for the war. In a televised address he said casting a ballot would show that “millions of people stand behind our soldiers.” United Russia is widely expected to keep dominance; most anti-war candidates were barred, and the liberal Yabloko party — which wants a ceasefire — was ruled off the party list last month by the Supreme Court. Senior Yabloko figures have drawn long jail terms for war-related comments. Voting spans Russia’s 11 time zones through Sunday evening GMT, including balloting Moscow has organized in occupied parts of Ukraine.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 350 Ukrainian drones targeted the capital Friday morning; most were destroyed at an outer defensive perimeter, with 64 shot down approaching the city. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces also hit the Yaroslavl oil refinery overnight and damaged aircraft at a Rostov military airfield. Russia reported strikes on a Nova Poshta logistics hub near Odesa and a cargo vessel at Chornomorsk, and a Russian drone attack injured five people, including three children, in the Kyiv region, officials said.
Sources: Reuters; Al Jazeera (AP/Reuters)
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