Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party has secured a commanding lead in the country’s parliamentary elections, according to results released by Russian state media.
The election covered all seats in Russia’s lower parliamentary chamber, the 450-member State Duma, and was the first national legislative vote since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The ballot was held against a highly restricted political backdrop, with parties opposed to the war prevented from competing. Russia’s Supreme Court removed the liberal Yabloko party from the federal ballot in the weeks preceding the election, although some of its candidates were still allowed to contest individual single-mandate constituencies.
Voting was also conducted in Ukrainian territories that Russia has occupied and claimed to have annexed, a move that has been rejected by Ukraine and widely disputed internationally.
With more than 71% of ballots counted, Russian news agencies reported that United Russia had won approximately 57.5% of the vote. The Communist Party was in second place with about 14%, while the nationalist LDPR followed with 8.7%.
The results put United Russia on course to preserve its two-thirds majority in the State Duma. State news agency TASS projected that the party would retain enough seats to maintain the parliamentary strength required to make constitutional amendments.
The first official figures on the final result and voter turnout were expected to be released on Monday morning. Turnout was being closely watched as a potential indication of public sentiment toward Russia’s war in Ukraine, the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
An exit poll released by a state-run polling organisation had earlier placed United Russia at 49.4%, broadly similar to the share recorded by the party in the previous parliamentary election.
The vote took place as the war continued to escalate, with Ukraine launching a large-scale drone attack against Moscow and the surrounding region on the final day of voting. Russian officials said the strikes killed two people and caused a fire at an oil refinery.
Russia responded with a warning that it would step up attacks on the Ukrainian capital. The Russian defence ministry accused Kyiv of seeking to “disrupt the democratic will of Russian citizens”.
“In response to the Kyiv regime’s attacks on civilian targets within Russia, the Russian army will continue and intensify its high accuracy strikes against military targets in Kyiv,” the Russian defence ministry said.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the Ukrainian operation as the largest drone attack on the capital since the beginning of the war. He said around 1,600 drones had been involved, including approximately 450 directed toward Moscow.
Footage and images circulating after the attacks showed extensive damage, including a large opening in the side of a multi-storey residential building on the outskirts of Moscow. Other images showed thick black smoke rising from what appeared to be an oil-refining facility.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the strikes, saying “our long-range responses had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night”.
The attacks came despite continuing diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war. Those efforts have so far failed to prevent an escalation in strikes by both sides in recent months.
Zelenskyy also held a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump as Kyiv faced pressure over its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. Trump has recently called on Ukraine to halt strikes against Russian refineries.
The Ukrainian president and Trump were expected to meet in New York in the following days.
Andrey Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said two people had died in separate incidents during the attacks. The victims were identified as a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man.
Vorobyov also reported that a drone strike caused a fire after crashing into a 21-storey residential building, prompting the evacuation of about 400 people.
Ukraine has repeatedly used drones against Russian military, energy and other infrastructure during the war. Kyiv has presented such attacks as retaliation for Russian strikes that have devastated Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
The parliamentary election itself was held under intense restrictions on political opposition. Yabloko, a liberal party that had advocated ending the war, was prevented from fielding its federal party list following the Supreme Court ruling, although some of its candidates continued to appear on ballots in individual constituencies.
Putin had encouraged Russians to participate in the election, portraying the vote as an expression of support for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine and an “answer to those who want to weaken Russia”.
Meanwhile, many of the Kremlin’s most prominent political opponents have left Russia or been forced into exile. Alexei Navalny, Putin’s most prominent domestic challenger, died in an Arctic prison in 2024.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, urged Russians opposed to the war to participate in a coordinated voting protest at noon on Sunday. The tactic had previously attracted significant participation during Russia’s 2024 presidential election.
Outside Russia, opposition supporters also demonstrated against the election. AFP reporters in Berlin and London observed groups gathered outside Russian embassy buildings as the parliamentary vote took place.
