Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russia claims election voting system hit by cyber attack after repelling drone strike

Polls are set to close in Russia’s parliamentary election on Sunday, in the first State Duma election since Russia launched its full-scale war in February 2022.

The Russian Central Election Commission says the turnout is currently at 44.5 per cent, in an election that is widely expected to see the ruling pro-Putin United Russia party retain its dominance in Russia's tightly controlled political system.

Most anti-war candidates were excluded from the ballot before voting across Russia's 11 time zones got under way

On Saturday authorities said the online voting system in Moscow had been subjected to a strong attack overnight, but said the situation was under control and that all attacks were successfully repelled.

It comes as Kyiv deploys its new advanced interceptor drone capable of shooting down Russia’s damaging jet-powered Shahed drones.

Volodymyr Zelensky shared footage of the drone tracking down a Russian Shahed before exploding on impact, in what he said was a successful interception.

Kyiv has previously raised the alarm about the use of Moscow’s new jet-powered drones which can travel up to 600 kilometres per hour — triple the speed of the piston-powered Shaheds deployed in earlier stages of the conflict.

Ukrainians in territories occupied by Russia are being “held at gunpoint” and forced to vote in parliamentary elections that “bear no resemblance to democracy,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry has warned.

For the next three days, 111 million people will head to the polls for Russia’s first parliamentary election since the since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 - and one that includes the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as well as the annexed Crimean Peninsula .

“This is a farce orchestrated by the occupying state; it bears no resemblance to democratic elections and establishes no legal grounds for extending Russian jurisdiction to any part of Ukraine's territory,” a statement from the ministry said.

Russia is not aware of the possibility that Washington may want to sign deals with Moscow before the Ukraine conflict is over, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the RIA state news agency on Saturday.

The New York Times reported ⁠this week, citing two ​people close ⁠to the peace ‌talks, that the White House is now considering signing business ‌deals with Russia ‌before it stops fighting in Ukraine.

"I don't know anything about such signals, and it would be strange to receive them, because we still hear exactly the opposite stance, namely, 'Let's agree on Ukraine and move forward, and everything else later,'" Ryabkov told RIA.

"Everything ‌else, as ⁠they say, will be ⁠attached. This also applies to economic ‌aspects, economic ​projects, too."