Russia’s ruling United Russia party has secured a large majority in parliamentary elections held amid the war in Ukraine, cyberattacks targeting election infrastructure and major Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow and the surrounding region. The vote was the first election for the State Duma since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Results reported by Russian state media early on Monday showed United Russia leading after more than 71% of ballots had been counted. The Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) were well behind, while anti-war parties faced significant restrictions before voting began.
United Russia on course to retain its dominance
According to figures reported by Russian news agencies, United Russia had received 57.5% of the vote. The Communist Party was on 14%, while the LDPR had 8.7%.
Projections by the state news agency TASS indicated that United Russia was on course to retain a two-thirds majority in the 450-seat State Duma. Such a majority would preserve the party’s ability to support constitutional amendments, although final results and turnout figures were still expected after the initial count.
The result was widely anticipated to reinforce President Vladimir Putin’s political position. However, the election took place in an environment where opposition activity and criticism of the war have been heavily constrained.
Anti-war opposition excluded from the ballot
No party openly opposed to Russia’s war in Ukraine was permitted to contest the election. Russia’s Supreme Court removed the anti-war Yabloko party from the ballot several weeks before polling.
Voting also took place in Ukrainian territories occupied and annexed by Russia. Ukraine and many governments do not recognise Russia’s claims over those areas, making the inclusion of those territories a significant political and legal issue beyond the election itself.
Turnout could provide an indication of participation in a vote held during Europe’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War. However, interpreting the result as a straightforward measure of public opinion is complicated by restrictions on political competition and the absence of a permitted anti-war platform.
Drone attacks hit Moscow on the final voting day
Voting coincided with a major wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and the surrounding region. Russian officials said two people were killed and an oil refinery caught fire during the strikes.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the attack involved around 1,600 drones, including approximately 450 directed at the capital. The reported figures could not be independently verified in the source material.
Images circulated by officials and media showed severe damage to a multi-storey apartment building on the outskirts of Moscow, as well as thick smoke rising from what appeared to be an oil facility.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the attacks and said Ukraine’s long-range strikes had had a significant impact in the Moscow region. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian infrastructure during the war, describing such operations as retaliation for Russian attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities.
Russia threatens intensified strikes on Kyiv
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it would intensify strikes on Kyiv in response. The ministry accused Ukraine of targeting civilian sites and said Russian forces would continue attacks against military targets in the Ukrainian capital.
Russia and Ukraine have continued to exchange long-range strikes despite diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war. US President Donald Trump has recently urged Kyiv to stop attacks on Russian refineries, and he was expected to meet Zelenskyy in New York in the days following the election.
The timing of the strikes added a security crisis to an already politically sensitive vote. It also highlighted how the conflict has increasingly affected infrastructure and public life far beyond the front line.
Election infrastructure targeted by cyberattacks
Russia’s Central Election Commission reported a separate wave of cyberattacks against systems involved in the election. Chair Ella Pamfilova said more than 1,000 waves of distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks had been recorded.
DDoS attacks attempt to overwhelm computer systems with internet traffic, potentially disrupting access or slowing services. Pamfilova said the attacks appeared to involve highly coordinated groups using artificial intelligence tools, but she did not identify those responsible.
She also said communication lines had been cut in Russia’s far east in what she described as an apparent attempt to interfere with voting. The allegations were made by Russian electoral authorities, and no independent attribution was provided in the source material.
Why the result matters beyond Russia
The election has significance for European politics and security because the State Duma remains central to the legal and political framework supporting Russia’s war effort. A strong result for United Russia is expected to preserve continuity in Moscow’s domestic institutions rather than signal a change in the country’s approach to Ukraine.
The vote also raises questions about democratic competition, electoral access and the treatment of occupied Ukrainian territories. European governments and institutions are likely to assess the results alongside broader concerns over political freedoms, territorial claims and the continuation of the war.
For Ireland and other European Union member states, the immediate implications are likely to be diplomatic and security-related. The election does not itself change EU policy, but its outcome may influence assessments of Russia’s political stability and the prospects for future negotiations over Ukraine.
What happens next?
Russia’s electoral authorities were expected to publish further official results and turnout figures after the initial count. Those figures will provide a clearer picture of participation and the final distribution of seats.
International scrutiny is also likely to focus on the conditions under which the vote was held, including the exclusion of anti-war political forces, voting in occupied Ukrainian territory, reported attacks on election infrastructure and the security environment surrounding polling.
The central takeaway from this latest Europe news is that United Russia has preserved its parliamentary dominance, while the election took place under wartime conditions that sharply limited political competition. The result maintains the existing balance of power in Moscow, but it does not resolve the wider questions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, democratic accountability or relations with Europe.
