Smoke rises from around Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft’s Moscow refinery, seen from Dzerzhinsky in the Moscow region on September 20, 2026.
AFP | Getty Images
Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, is on track to easily win a tightly controlled wartime election after Ukraine launched what is believed to be the largest drone attack on the Moscow region on the final day of voting.
United Russia, backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, won 57.5% of the parliamentary vote with more than 71% of votes counted, according to data from the Central Election Commission. This will be the first election for the lower house of parliament (450 members) since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Three people were killed on Sunday in what Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described as the “largest enemy drone attack ever” on the Russian capital. Flames and huge black smoke rose from the outskirts of the city, and refinery facilities were also damaged.
Russian officials accused Ukraine of trying to sabotage the election, accusing the Kremlin of including in the election residents of regions illegally annexed from Kiev during the war.
The result is expected to strengthen the overwhelming United Russia, which holds a significant lead over its rivals after more than four and a half years of war.
All parties participating in the vote have broadly pledged allegiance to President Putin and his political views. The liberal Yabloko party was the only registered party to oppose the war in Ukraine, but the country’s Supreme Court blocked its establishment.
This pool photo distributed by Russia’s state agency Sputnik shows Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking at the State Award Ceremony for the Defense Industry at the Kremlin in Moscow on September 18, 2026.
Alexander Kazakov AFP | Getty Images
Elina Rybakova, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the election shows United Russia is on track to win a much higher share of the vote than in 2021.
“I think it’s important for the regime to demonstrate its legitimacy, right? The people voted, and it’s a strange fact that, for example, the leader of the Chechen Republic (Ramzan) Kadyrov received 99.85 percent of the vote,” Rybakova told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday.
“What happens after the election is what really matters,” Rybakova said. “I think President Putin himself is most concerned about the war participants. Peace or a temporary ceasefire would bring hundreds of thousands of people back to Russia, which is facing stagflation with high inflation and zero growth,” she continued.
“This is what Russia calls the most passionate part of the population, and it’s something the regime really needs to be concerned about.”
Zelensky meets with Trump in New York
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he and US President Donald Trump had agreed to meet in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week.
“We agreed to meet in New York, but this meeting could change a lot. There is diplomatic momentum,” President Zelensky said on social media.
“We have ideas for de-escalation and to address fundamental security issues such as energy security, food security and protection of human life. We are working with the US team and are prepared to take really serious steps,” he added.
Following a post about his meeting with President Trump, Ukraine’s president shared an update on the situation in Zaporizhzhia, which suffered a “vicious” Russian attack overnight.
Zelenskiy said the attack caused infrastructure damage to homes, university facilities and a shopping mall, and reported that five people were injured.
Zelenskyy said one person was killed in another drone strike in the Kharkiv region and that Russia attacked 10 areas Sunday evening and into the night. “Russia is not backing down from escalation and is sending many signals that it is ready to escalate the war,” he added.
