Tallinn: Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia targeted Moscow, sparked a brief fire at an oil refinery, and disrupted electricity in border areas, Russian officials said early on Sunday, the final day of the country’s presidential vote.
Moscow accuses Kyiv of election sabotage with its days of strikes on Russian infrastructure, one of the most sweeping air operations on Russian territory since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine two years ago.
A woman holds her dog as she leaves a voting booth in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok.Credit: AP
Putin, all but certain to win re-election, has vowed to punish Ukraine for the attacks.
More than half of Russian voters have already gone to the polls in the first two days of the three-day election, according to officials. The final day will test the strength of the country’s opposition, which called for all its supporters to vote at the same time at noon, in an action dubbed “Noon Against Putin.”
Sporadic protests have already marked the election but the latest developments in the war with Ukraine have cast a greater shadow on the vote so far. On Friday, Putin accused Kyiv of trying to disrupt the election with its intensified drone and missile attacks inside Russia and on Moscow-held territory in Ukraine. He also vowed to punish Ukraine.
Local Russian officials said early on Sunday that Kyiv’s forces continued their strikes on Russian regions bordering Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not address the reported attacks in his nightly video address on Saturday, but he thanked his military forces and intelligence “for the new Ukrainian long-range capabilities”.
Russian Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev, also the head of the United Russia party, casts his ballot at a polling station in Moscow.Credit: AP
Kyiv regards the election taking place in parts of its territory controlled by Russia as illegal and void.