Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin vows response after Ukrainian drone strikes during Putin’s sham election

The Kremlin has vowed to “intensify” strikes on Kyiv after accusing Ukraine of trying to disrupt Russia 's state election with the largest drone attack of the war so far.

President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party was comfortably ahead in early results on Monday following a vote in which observers were turned away and genuine opposition banned.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that its forces shot down a total of 1,110 Ukrainian drones across Russia, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.

Two people were killed and 20 wounded across the wider Moscow region, local governor Andrei Vorobyov said.

Monday's initial results showed United Russia comfortably ahead with 57.5 per cent of the vote. Other parties that were likely to return to the State Duma have all publicly supported Putin's leadership.

The Kremlin has tried to cast the parliamentary election as a test of support for its war in Ukraine, even as critics say there are few available avenues for genuine dissent.

The election's last day came against a backdrop of a major wave of Ukrainian attacks. Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that its forces shot down a total of 1,110 Ukrainian drones across Russia, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.

Two people were killed and 20 wounded across the wider Moscow region, local Governor Andrei Vorobyov said.

The election follows a summer of Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on oil refineries that triggered a widespread fuel crisis. Warehouses belonging to online retailers Wildberries and Ozon also were attacked. Those attacks have exacerbated economic problems and brought the war home for millions.

Russia’s exiled opposition, including the widow of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, called on anti-war Russians to cast their votes at noon on Sunday.

Thousands of Russians living in Armenia took part in the vote, lining up outside the Russian Embassy in the capital, Yerevan. Some of them joined the “Noon for a Peaceful Russia” anti-war demonstration, holding anti-war and anti-Putin posters.

Mark Podberezin, a journalist, said members of the election commission in Yerevan made remarks that felt like “outright intimidation". He said he had heard comments "along the lines of, ‘You’ll have to return to Russia sooner or later, keep that in mind.’”

Lidiya Klimenko said she did not think her vote would have any real impact. The most useful thing to do, she said, was “to see other people who are also against the war, to be together in a shared cause”.

In Germany, voters cast their ballots at the Russian Embassy in Berlin. Andrei Pivovarov, a dissident and former head of the Open Russia group, addressed a protest gathered outside the building.