Russia attacked amid protests as Putin claims election victory
UKRAINE launched a massive wave of drone attacks as Russians cast ballots on the final day of a presidential vote set to extend Vladimir Putin’s rule for six years.
It came as Kremlin authorities arrested 74 protesters in various cities who joined the “Noon against Putin” demo which asked people to go to polls at midday. Protests were also held in cities across Europe.
Last night Putin claimed victory after Russia released early returns showing he had nearly 88% of votes. In a victory speech he said Russia should be “stronger and more effective”.
He added: “No one will ever suppress Russia when we are consolidated.”
Lord Cameron said on X, formerly Twitter: “This is not what free and fair elections look like.”
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky said Putin “has become sick with power and will stop at nothing to rule forever”.
The Russian Defence Ministry reported downing 35 Ukrainian drones on Saturday night, including four in the Moscow region.
Targeted
And the blitz grounded flights from Moscow for three hours while traffic was suspended over the bridge connecting Crimea with mainland Russia for half an hour yesterday.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a fifth drone, close to the capital’s Domodedovo airport, was downed on Sunday morning.
Footage on social media appeared to show a hole in the roof of a building at the airport.
The attacks in Yaroslavl, about 500 miles from the Ukrainian border, were some of the farthest yet launched by Kyiv. More Ukrainian drones were downed over the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions that border Ukraine and southern Krasnodar region, Russia claimed.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said shelling killed a 16-year-old girl on Sunday and injured her father in the Russian border city.
A drone fell on a refinery in the Krasnodar region, sparking a blaze, said local officials.
Putin said on Friday: “Those enemy strikes haven’t been and won’t be left unpunished.” The Ukrainian military said 14 Russian drones had been shot down over the Odesa region yesterday.
The attack followed a Russian ballistic missile assault on the southern port city on Friday, blasting homes and killing at least 21. A second missile targeted emergency services at the scene.
Russian forces launched five S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles at Ukrainian areas in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, as well as two X-59 missiles in the Chernihiv area, the Ukrainian air force said. As the war entered a third year, Russian forces have made slow gains along the front line. Moscow also claimed it thwarted a cross-border incursion by Ukrainian “sabotage and reconnaissance groups” on Saturday.
The Russian Volunteer Corps – which includes rebels fighting alongside Ukrainian forces – released a video alleging to have captured 25 Kremlin soldiers.
Meanwhile, thousands defied the regime by turning up at polling stations in apparent support for the Noon against Putin protest that has wrong-footed the Kremlin. Photos showed queues snaking out of polling stations at midday in what was possibly the biggest opposition demonstration in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
Huge lines also formed around noon outside Russian embassies in London, Berlin, Paris, Copenhagen, Milan and other cities. Many said they had spoiled their ballot papers as a symbol of protest.
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, joined protests at the Russian Embassy in Berlin as the crowd chanted her name.