Ukraine launched a large drone assault on Moscow and surrounding areas on 20 September 2026, the final day of Russia's parliamentary elections, with Russian authorities reporting deaths, damage to energy infrastructure and disruption at the capital's airports. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called it the 'largest ever' attack on the Russian capital.
Two people were killed in the early-morning attacks and about 20 were injured, including three children, according to Andrey Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region. He said a third person later died in hospital from their injuries.
The Ukrainian General Staff said the Gazpromneft-Moscow Oil Refinery, in Moscow's Kapotnya district, was the main target. It described the site as one of the country's largest refineries by volume. A facility on the refinery grounds was damaged, although the extent of the damage and any effect on operations were unclear.
Russian authorities gave differing figures for the scale of the operation. Sobyanin said more than 1,600 drones had been repelled across all defensive lines, including 450 shot down as they approached Moscow. Vorobyov said air defences and electronic warfare systems had shot down or jammed 249 Ukrainian drones across 17 districts of the Moscow region early on 20 September.
Russia's defence ministry said its air defences had shot down 1,110 Ukrainian drones overnight into 20 September over Russian regions, annexed Crimea and the Black Sea. The Ukrainian operation involved more than 1,000 drones, according to the Russian claims cited by Moscow authorities.
Residential areas were also hit. A drone struck a building near Orekhovy Boulevard in Moscow. In the Ramensky district, a drone fell on the roof of a 21-story apartment building on Severnoye Highway, causing a fire and prompting the evacuation of 400 people.
In the village of Sofyino, a Ukrainian drone hit a three-story apartment building and damaged six apartments. A fire also broke out at a warehouse described as a logistics complex operated by Sovremennye Skladskiye Tekhnologii, covering 290,000 square meters.
Moscow's Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky airports imposed restrictions on takeoffs and landings. About 100 flights were delayed or cancelled.
The attack coincided with the third and final day of voting for all 450 seats in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament. Exit polling by the state-owned Russian Public Opinion Research Center, known as VCIOM, projected 49.4% of the vote for the ruling United Russia party. The Communist Party was projected to receive 14.2%, while the nationalist LDPR party was put at 10.7%.
United Russia has won every parliamentary election in Russia since 2003. Sobyanin said the attack 'was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections' and added: 'The enemy did not succeed'. Russia accused Ukraine of attempting to 'disrupt the democratic will of Russian citizens'.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had struck Moscow. He said: 'Our long-range responses had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night'. Zelensky also said Ukrainian forces had fired Flamingo missiles at Russia alongside the drones.
Russia's defence ministry said: 'In response to the Kyiv regime's attacks on civilian targets within Russia, the Russian army will continue and intensify its high-accuracy strikes against military targets in Kyiv'.
Zelensky said Russia had launched more than 2,000 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 19 missiles of various types against Ukraine during the week. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
The election took place against a wartime political backdrop in which Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison in 2024. The available information did not establish whether the drone attack affected turnout or the voting process.
Zelensky also said he had spoken to President Donald Trump and that they had agreed to meet in New York. He thanked Trump for signing the Lindsey Graham sanctions bill into law.
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