Russia’s sham elections deliver Kremlin landslide after Ukraine’s largest strike on Moscow

Russia’s tightly managed parliamentary elections ended Sunday with President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party heading for another commanding victory, an outcome critics describe as the product of a sham process designed to manufacture legitimacy for the war in Ukraine rather than reflect genuine public will.

The three-day vote for the State Duma, Russia’s first parliamentary election since the 2022 full-scale invasion, was framed by the Kremlin as a test of support for the conflict now in its fifth year. Preliminary official figures showed United Russia at about 57.5 percent after a portion of protocols were counted, with turnout reported at 56.66 percent. The permitted “systemic opposition” parties—Communists, LDPR, New People, and A Just Russia—trailed far behind and typically vote with the Kremlin on core issues.

Independent observers and opposition figures called the exercise a rubber-stamp ritual. Russia’s Supreme Court barred the liberal Yabloko party, the only registered group that openly criticized the war, from running a national list. Remaining Yabloko candidates faced arrests of observers and reports of irregularities including opened ballot boxes, unsecured polling stations, refusals to issue paper ballots, and pressure toward electronic voting. Leonid Volkov, an associate of the late Alexei Navalny, suggested some technical failures in Moscow appeared aimed at steering voters to the more easily manipulated online system.

Ukraine and the European Union denounced voting in occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea as illegal. Kyiv labeled the entire process a “pseudo election” and “farce.” Analysts at Germany’s SWP think tank titled their assessment “Yet Another Sham Election in Russia,” arguing the Duma’s representativeness approached zero after two decades of tailoring the system to Kremlin needs. Meduza and election monitors documented how three-day voting, expanded electronic ballots, and the dismantling of independent observation groups like Golos made fraud easier.

Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov spoiled his own ballot with the words “For peace.” Exile opposition figures urged protest lines at noon, producing some queues, but the Kremlin presented the results as proof of national unity. CEC chair Ella Pamfilova claimed pressure only increased “public unity.” Dmitry Medvedev declared United Russia had performed with dignity.

Nikolai Rybakov, leader of Yabloko: “There can be no victory in Ukraine. We have all already lost”

The vote unfolded against a backdrop of war. Overnight into Sunday, Ukraine launched what Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the largest drone attack ever on the capital region. Russian officials said more than 1,600 drones were intercepted overall, including 450 headed for Moscow. Drones and missiles struck the Gazpromneft-Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya, sparking large fires visible across the city, along with warehouses and at least one residential building. Two or three people were killed and about 20 wounded in the Moscow region. Zelensky confirmed strikes on a key oil facility and logistics site using domestically produced drones, Flamingo cruise missiles, and a new Pelican ballistic missile.

Moscow votes under smoke

Sobyanin accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt the elections: “The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said it would “continue and intensify its high-accuracy strikes against military targets in Kyiv” in response, accusing Kyiv of attacking civilians to sabotage the “democratic will” of Russians.

Reprisals were already underway. An overnight Russian attack on the Kyiv region killed four people, including three children – a mother and her two 3-year-old children in a private home. Drone fragments fell across districts of the capital. Ukrainian officials reported warehouse fires and damage to businesses in Kyiv Oblast. Analysts expect Russia to escalate strikes on the Ukrainian capital as winter approaches and as a demonstration of resolve after the Moscow attack.

The elections change little on the ground. Putin is not due for re-election until 2030. The new Duma will continue to serve as a controlled legislature rather than a check on power. For Ukraine, the vote and the accompanying strikes underscore that Moscow intends to prosecute the war regardless of battlefield costs or international isolation. For Russians, the process offered no meaningful choice on the conflict that has defined the last four years. Final official results are expected later this week.

Caption: An advertising screen announces the upcoming Russian parliamentary election in front of the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia, 17 September 2026. Russia will elect a new State Duma, the lower house of parliament, during unified voting day, on 18-20 September. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV