In the context of the Russian election, drone attacks by Ukraine have increased significantly. A polling station in the occupied territories will be hit on Sunday.
On the third and final day of the Russian presidential election, Ukraine hit the neighboring country with a wave of drone attacks on Sunday. In the election, Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to extend his rule for another six years. He also declared the election a plebiscite about his war of aggression against Ukraine. The election is not considered free and fair.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that 35 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight, including four in the greater Moscow area. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no casualties or damage. According to the ministry, two more drones were shot down over the Kaluga region, south of the capital, and the Yaroslavl region, northeast of Moscow.
On Sunday, a polling station in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region was reportedly attacked. The municipal cultural center in the small town of Kamyanka-Dniprovska caught fire in the attack, wrote Russian politician Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the “We are with Russia” movement, on his Telegram channel. Officials from the Ministry of Emergency Situations could not begin fire-fighting operations as the drone attacks continued. There were no injuries.
Drone attacks are increasing around the Russian election
The attacks in Yaroslavl are among Ukraine’s deepest advances to date. The region is about 800 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. However, most of the drones were shot down over the border regions of Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov as well as the southern Krasnodar region, the ministry said.
The attacks followed a series of Ukrainian drone strikes and other attacks in recent days that Putin described as an attempt to scare residents and disrupt the presidential election. “These enemy attacks have not gone unpunished and will not go unpunished,” he said at a meeting of his Security Council on Friday. “I am sure that our people, the people of Russia, will respond to this with even greater unity.”
It was initially not possible to independently verify whether all drones could actually be fended off on approach. The Russian side, which has been waging a war of aggression against its neighboring country for more than two years now, often only reports supposed successes of its own air defense in the case of Ukrainian drone attacks.
In its defense against the Russian invasion, Ukraine repeatedly shells Russian territory – both in the border region and in the hinterland. However, the number of victims and damage are disproportionate to the serious consequences of the war in Ukraine.
Sunday is the third and final day of the vote, which is accompanied by allegations of manipulation and is intended to secure Vladimir Putin a fifth term in office until 2030.
Source: Stern
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