Russian anti-aircraft defenses announced that they had shot down during the early hours of today 344 Ukrainian drones in the European part of Russia and Siberia, where the second day of the vote on legislative elections takes place.
© Lusa
19/09/2026
by
Lusa
Ounmanned devices were slaughtered in 16 regions, 15 of them on the continent of Europe, according to the war bulletin of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
These include Moscow, Leningrad, Krasnodar or Dagestan (Caucasum), the border regions of Belgorod, Briansk and Kursk, and the Siberian Iamalo-Nenets, which houses large oil and gas deposits.
Russians and Ukrainians did not agree a 72-hour truce at the first parliamentary elections of the entire war, so in Ukrainian regions annexed to Donetsk, most voters voted in advance.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that Moscow attacked a logistics centre 41 kilometres from Kyiv, used to store military supplies from European countries, as well as bombing targets in other regions of the neighbouring country.
Russia is holding today the second of three days of the elections to the lower House of the State Duma, the first since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, in which about 111 million inhabitants of 89 regions are called to vote.
They can also vote for Russians living in 152 countries, where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has enabled 333 voting assemblies, many of them in diplomatic missions.
The Kremlin seeks to strengthen public support for the war and sought to avoid any political risks, repressing the slightest sign of dissent.
The main party of the sphere of power, United Russia, has practically guaranteed the maintenance of its overwhelming control of the State Duma.
Several smaller parties of the “systemic opposition”, who vote in tune with the government on all key issues, must also maintain their presence.
Voters vote in two separate ballots, filling half of the 450 Duma seats by selecting the listed political parties. The remaining part is played in uninominal circles, with voters choosing individual candidates.
The only party opposed to war, Yabloko, is not on the ballot board because it was excluded by the Supreme Court. However, about a hundred of the party's candidates still have chances of election in the uninominal circles.
Ukraine urged the international community not to recognise the results of the legislation carried out by the Russian authorities in occupied Ukrainian territories, while alerting the ‘forced Russianification’ policies in an attempt to legitimize the rule of these areas.
Ukraine does not recognise any elections it considers illegal or its ‘senseless results’, according to the Kyiv Ministry of Foreign Affairs, referring to the vote held on the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and the partially occupied regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporijia and Kherson.
These areas represent about 20% of Ukrainian territory and correspond to the main fronts since the large-scale invasion of Russian troops,