Russia’s pro-Putin party set to win election as Ukraine exposes war’s growing reach into Moscow

Smoke rises from the area of the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft's Moscow oil refinery as seen from Dzerzhinsky in the Moscow region on September 20, 2026.AFP | Getty ImagesRussia's ruling United Russia party is on track to comfortably win a tightly controlled wartime election after Ukraine launched what is thought to be the largest drone attack on the Moscow region on the last day of voting.United Russia, which is supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin, received 57.5% of the parliamentary vote with more than 71% of the ballots counted, data from the Central Election Commission showed. It is the first election to the 450-seat State Duma, the lower house of parliament, since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.On Sunday, three people were killed in what Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described as the "largest enemy drone attack" on Russia's capital to date. Flames and huge columns of black smoke rose from the city's outskirts, and a facility at an oil refinery was also damaged.Russian government officials accused Ukraine, which condemned the Kremlin for having the elections include residents of regions it illegally annexed from Kyiv during the war, of trying to di...