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.
Volodymyr Zelensky warned earlier today that Russia is “sending many signals” that it is ready to expand the war. The Ukrainian President said he will meet Donald Trump this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
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Key Points
- Putin's party dominating tightly-controlled wartime vote in Russia
- Exclusive: Drones targeting UK military sites nearly every day as threat from Putin grows
- Russian drone attack killed a mother and her two small children in Kyiv region
- Zelensky says he will meet Trump in New York - and that it could 'change a lot'
Putin's United Russia leads with 57.8% in election, preliminary results show
09:30 , Gergana.Krasteva
United Russia is leading with 57.8 percent in the parliamentary election, preliminary results show.
As widely expected, Vladimir Putin’s party will retain power, after a mass clampdown on anti-war candidates.
The chair of Russia's Central Election Commission said voter turnout stood at 59.32 percent, state media reported.
The final results will be announced on September 25.
Putin's party is expected to win 355 seats, the outlet added.
Decoy drones and jet-powered UAVs used in mixed-swarm Russian attack
09:00 , Gergana.KrastevaUkrainian forces shot down 148 long-range Shahed, Gerbera and Parodiya decoy drones, as well as a low-cost Benderol cruise missile, overnight.
Russia deploys the UAVs in mixed-swarm drone attacks to overwhelm and and exhaust Ukrainian air defences.
Some newer variants of Shahed drones are jet-powered to fly much faster. At least 64 of the ones used overnight were jet-powered.
Most were launched from border regions including Kursk and Belgorod, as well as occupied Donetsk and annexed Crimea.
“Enemy air assets were recorded striking 14 locations, while debris from shot-down targets fell at four other locations,” the Ukrainian army said in an early morning update on Telegram
In pictures: Battle to extinguish fires across Zaporizhzhia
08:35 , Gergana.Krasteva
'Vicious, deliberate' attack as Russia refuses to 'back down from escalation'
08:15 , Gergana.KrastevaVolodymyr Zelensky has warned the West that Russia is refusing to “back down from its escalation and is sending many signals that it is ready to expand the war.”
His comments followed an overnight strike on a residential building, a university facility, a shopping centre and a boiler house in Zaporizhzhia.
“A vicious, deliberate Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia began last evening,” the Ukrainian president said on X, adding that residents have been evacuated.
Overall, Russia struck 10 Ukrainian regions throughout the night.
Zelensky added: “Every response and every long-range sanction is part of the pressure that is actually working, and the world can feel it.”
A vicious, deliberate Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia began last evening. Nine-story residential buildings, a university facility, a shopping mall, and a boiler house were damaged. As of now, five people have been reported injured, and some residents were evacuated. In Lozova,… pic.twitter.com/6366C0SiT2
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 21, 2026
One killed in Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Bryansk region, acting governor says
07:49 , Namita SinghA man was killed and three people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, the region's acting governor, Yegor Kovalchuk, said in a statement on Russia's MAX messenger app on Monday.
Fighting conditions becoming ‘more atrocious’, say Ukrainian war veterans
07:25 , Namita SinghJames Fensom, who fought on several battle fronts in Ukraine, says war conditions are getting “more atrocious” as the skies are nearly saturated with armed drones stalking soldiers round the clock.
The war veteran, who fought in the brutal battle for the city of Bakhmut in 2023, locally called “the meat grinder”, told The Telegraph that he prefers that over the ongoing assault.
“The war fighting conditions are becoming ever more atrocious,” says Fensom.
“Those of us who’ve been here a while sometimes reminisce about Bakhmut, and think: ‘God, if only we could go back to those days’.”
He blames it on the ever-increasing range of new-age drones that have forced troops to spend nearly all their time in foxholes and bunkers.
“The Russians just kept hitting it non-stop, until it almost collapsed,” he says, recalling being in one blindage that was attacked by 42 First Person View drones in 24 hours.
“There were only three of us there, and we weren’t even on the zero line – that shows you the amount of firepower the Russians can expend on us.”
Ukraine's Zelensky says he and Trump agree to meet in New York
07:00 , Namita SinghUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he had spoken with US president Donald Trump and the two agreed to meet in New York for talks that "could change a lot" in terms of finding a resolution to the war with Russia.
The two leaders will be in New York in the coming week for the UN General Assembly.
"We agreed to meet in New York, and this meeting could change a lot. There is diplomatic momentum," Zelensky wrote on X.
Zelensky said he thanked Trump for this month's visit to Kyiv by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. "The peace track is our number-one priority," he said.
"There are ideas for de-escalation steps and for addressing fundamental security issues energy security, food security, and the protection of human life," he said.
"We are working together with the American team and are ready to take really serious steps."
Zelensky again thanked Trump for signing into law the Russian sanctions bill championed by the late US senator Lindsey Graham.
Russia says it hit Ukraine's cargo vessels, Izmail port and logistics centre
06:37 , Namita SinghThe Russian defence ministry said on Monday its forces hit multiple targets in Ukraine, including two cargo vessels used for the military, a gas distribution station, Izmail port infrastructure and the BDU Logistic centre in the Kyiv region.
Russian drone attack kills three children and a woman in Kyiv region, Ukraine says
06:25 , Namita SinghAn overnight Russian attack on the Kyiv region killed four people, including three children, Kyiv regional authorities said on Sunday.
Drone attacks persisted in Kyiv and the surrounding region throughout the day, with drone fragments falling on various districts in the capital. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reported one injured.
Outside the capital, a mother and her two 3-year-old children were killed in Kyiv region when a Russian drone strike hit a private home, the emergency service said. Governor Tymur Tkachenko said a girl died in hospital after a separate drone strike in another district.
Tkachenko said the region endured more than a day of hostile attacks over several areas. The southwestern Fastiv district sustained the most damage, with more than 24 sites hit, including homes, industrial and utility buildings, the grounds of an agricultural enterprise and vehicles, he added.
In pictures: Russian drones strike Zaporizhzhia overnight
06:05 , Namita Singh
At least five injured in Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia
05:51 , Namita SinghAt least five people were injured in an overnight Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia. This includes three men and two women, said Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, reported Ukraine National News.
The attack came as Kremlin warned of retaliation after it accused Ukraine of launching a wave of drones in a bid to “disrupt” its tightly controlled wartime election.
Ukraine fires over 1,000 drones at Russia in largest attack since war began
05:30 , Namita SinghThe 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.
Russian opposition abroad holds protests
05:15 , Namita SinghRussia’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.
Issues with electronic voting in Moscow
05:00 , Namita SinghThe head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, on Sunday said that the electronic voting system in Moscow was targeted by cyberattacks.
She blamed one of the “systemic parties” – meaning one of those taking part in the vote, without specifying which one.
SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet, said on Sunday that voters were reporting glitches in the electronic registry systems at polling stations across Moscow.
People were not issued paper ballots and instead were asked to vote via an electronic terminal, the outlet said on Telegram.
Leonid Volkov, a close associate of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, suggested the supposed breakdown of the system used to issue paper ballots in Moscow may have been deliberate, aimed at pushing voters toward electronic voting.
“Demand a paper ballot!” he wrote on X on Sunday.
Lines formed outside polling stations as many voters refused to vote electronically.
Having urged supporters to spoil party-list ballots, Yabloko party leader Nikolai Rybakov cast a ballot in St Petersburg on Sunday, covered in bright green writing declaring “For freedom," “For peace,” and “Yabloko”.
Russia turns away independent European observers from polling exercise
04:45 , Namita SinghRussia didn’t invite observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, with the Russian foreign ministry accusing the body of “double standards” for its criticism of Russia.
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly president Pere Joan Pons said that the decision was a breach of Russia’s commitments as a member state of the organisation.
Yabloko, the liberal opposition party, reported that one of its observers lost consciousness while being arrested by police at a St Petersburg polling station on Saturday, after officials accused him of trying to “disrupt the elections” and called police.
The parties reported violations including sealed ballot boxes being opened, doors to polling stations not being secured overnight, and a refusal to issue paper ballots. The claims could not be independently verified.
At one polling station in the Russian-held part of the Donetsk region, voters dropped their ballots in a box as an armed Russian soldier stood nearby and watched.
Opposition sidelined as observers report violations
04:30 , Namita SinghThe liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political entity that dared to publicly criticise the war, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court, and only has a few dozen candidates in the single-constituency races.
Additionally, some anti-war politicians were imprisoned or forced to flee abroad ahead of the campaign.
Yabloko and the Communist Party, which has criticised some aspects of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of Russian president Vladimir Putin, said many of their observers were turned away from polling stations.
Kremlin long expected to keep control
04:19 , Namita SinghThe Kremlin had called the parliamentary election, the first since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, to showcase popular support for the war and legitimise its action. It has sought to avoid political risks by stamping out any dissent.
A massive state media campaign and tight control over the election in the absence of genuine opposition all but assure the Kremlin will keep tight control of Russian politics amid mounting economic costs and increasing Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside the country.
Voters cast two separate ballots, filling half of the Duma’s 450 seats by selecting political parties listed on the ballot. The rest are contested in single-seat constituencies, with voters choosing individual candidates.
The main Kremlin party, United Russia, has been widely expected to retain its overwhelming control of the lower house, the State Duma.
The early results showed four other parties that almost always vote for Kremlin initiatives returning to the State Duma.
Putin's party dominating tightly-controlled wartime vote in Russia
04:12 , Namita SinghRussia’s ruling party United Russia was dominating early results in the country’s first wartime parliamentary election, according to the first returns released on Monday from a sham election where all genuine opponents of president Vladimir Putin had been barred from running.
The vote, which is all but certain to cement the Kremlin’s dominance, began on Friday for 111 million eligible voters and ended Sunday.
The balloting included residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began, but still doesn’t fully control, as well as those in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, a move Kyiv denounced as illegal and the European Union described as a “blatant violation of international law”.
With some 58 per cent of the precincts counted, United Russia had nearly 58 per cent of the vote for the 225 deputies apportioned by party lists, according to Russia’s Central Election Commission.
Another 225 lawmakers will be chosen in single-seat races, and United Russia also was poised to win most of those.
Exclusive: Drones targeting UK military sites nearly every day as threat from Putin grows
03:00 , Alex CroftRogue drones are targeting Britain’s military bases almost daily, leaving the UK vulnerable to growing threats from Russia and Iran, The Independent can reveal.
Some 340 security incidents involving drones were reported at or near Ministry of Defence sites in the year to August 2026, data obtained under freedom of information laws show. In 2025, there were a total of 250 incidents recorded – double the 126 recorded the year before.
Experts warn the alarming increase reflects the government’s woeful lack of security and unreadiness to combat hostile threats at a time of intense escalation from Vladimir Putin, as well as aggression from Iran.
Harriette Boucher reports:
Drones targeting UK military sites nearly every day as threat from Putin grows
Ukraine urges other countries not to recognise the vote
01:30 , Alex CroftAuthorities in Kyiv have called the voting in those territories illegal and urged foreign governments and international organisations not to recognize the election.
They warned Ukrainians that taking part in organising the vote could carry criminal liability.
A coalition of nine Ukrainian human rights groups called on residents of the Russia-held territories to stay away from the polls.
“We urge residents of the temporarily occupied territories, above all, to protect their lives and health and to look after their own safety,” the coalition said in a statement.
“Holding Russian elections in the temporarily occupied territories is an attempt to use the electoral process to legitimize the Russian occupation and the attempted annexation of Ukrainian territories.”
European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand said the voting in Russian-held regions represented "another blatant violation of international law.
The European Union does not, and will never recognize either the holding of these, so-called elections, sham elections, in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or their results.”
Watch: Trump claims Don Jr. is paying back Russian oligarch for lavish wedding
Monday 21 September 2026 00:00 , Alex CroftRussian drone attack killed a mother and her two small children in Kyiv region
Sunday 20 September 2026 23:01 , Alex CroftA Russian drone attack killed a mother and her two 3-year-old children in Ukraine's Kyiv region overnight, the emergency service said on Sunday.
The drone strike hit a private home, the service said.
Russia has been attacking the capital Kyiv and the surrounding Kyiv region with drones continually in recent weeks.
Putin’s war economy is under strain. One thing is keeping it afloat
Sunday 20 September 2026 22:01 , Alex CroftMounting defence expenditure is widening Russia’s budget deficit and increasing strain across its wartime economy, as business and consumer sentiment weakens and economic growth slows.
Economists note, however, that these difficulties do not point to an immediate financial meltdown or economic collapse. High global oil prices linked to the Iran war continue to shore up essential export revenues, allowing the state to fund its four-and-a-half-year-old invasion of Ukraine – for now.
In addition, low unemployment rates and generous government spending in poorer regions are helping to suppress domestic discontent.
This economic baseline fits the Kremlin’s narrative of stability during Russia’s stage-managed parliamentary election, which began on Friday and runs until Sunday.
Yet experts caution that underlying long-term challenges are steadily weakening the economy, creating risks that could eventually precipitate a crisis.
Putin’s war economy is under strain. One thing is keeping it afloat
Turkey awaiting response from Ukraine, Russia on offer to end Black Sea fighting
Sunday 20 September 2026 21:01 , Alex CroftTurkey has sent proposals to Ukraine and Russia aimed at ending attacks in the Black Sea and is awaiting a response from both sides, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday.
Fidan said Ankara’s immediate priority was to ensure grain could continue to leave the Black Sea, amid a recent rise in attacks on commercial vessels.
“We sent proposals to both sides,” Fidan told NTV. “We received responses from both sides.
“We are trying to reach a conclusion. Frankly, both sides have demands and positions that are difficult to reconcile,” he added.
“Our first priority is the extraction of grain from the Black Sea,” said Fidan.
“Countries around the world need it. Grain is a product that both country sells. But there are difficulties to overcome.
He said there were also diplomatic initiatives aimed at ending the wider Russia-Ukraine war, but a lasting solution appeared difficult to achieve at this stage.
Slovak PM Fico says some in West seek war between Russia and Nato
Sunday 20 September 2026 20:35 , Alex CroftSome Western politicians are seeking conflict between Nato and Russia after a "failed" strategy to defeat Moscow in its war with Ukraine, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico said on Saturday.
Longtime Slovak leader Fico, who has kept up warm relations with Russia and refuses military aid for Ukraine, said this week that Europe was closer than ever to a large-scale war erupting from the Ukraine war.
At the same time, some European leaders, such as those in France and Poland, have warned of Russian hybrid attacks.
In his video message, Fico said, "We face a mortal danger" while watching the West "pour fuel on the fire" with its support for Ukraine, which he said had been to no avail.
"The failure of the strategy to destroy Russia through the war in Ukraine has led some Western politicians to believe that if the goal cannot be achieved through the Ukrainian army and full support for it, then every effort must be made to trigger a conflict between Nato and Russia," Fico said in the video posted on social media.
Comment Putin’s election victory is assured. His victory in Ukraine is anything but
Sunday 20 September 2026 20:21 , Alex CroftVladimir Putin’s demeanour, usually a study of sneering command and icy stare, was showing distinct twitchiness in the run-up to this weekend’s three days of elections across Russia.
The result of the vote for the 450-seat Russian parliament, the Duma, is not in doubt. Any serious opposition parties have been ruled out on various spurious, legalistic pretexts. The last to get the thumbs-down from the electoral office was Yabloko, the only ostensibly anti-war party left in the race.
The last Duma election was in 2021, the year before the outright invasion of Ukraine. This time, it is a war election – the fiction of calling it a “special military operation” all but abandoned by the Kremlin. Putin is wrapping himself in the flag, saying this is a great war for the defence of the motherland, with strong echoes of Stalin’s Great Patriotic War of 1941 to 1945, which cost Russia around 25 million lives.
It is not just a question of winning, but winning well, and winning with a large popular vote.
Currently, his United Russia Party holds 320 of the Duma’s 450 seats. He needs at least 300 seats to change the constitution – and he will be looking to an unprecedented further term as president in 2030 or 2031.
Robert Fox writes:
Putin’s election victory is assured. His victory in Ukraine is anything but
Zelensky says he will meet Trump in New York - and that it could 'change a lot'
Sunday 20 September 2026 20:05 , Alex CroftVolodymyr Zelensky has said he will be meeting with Donald Trump during the UN General Assembly in New York - adding that the meeting could “change a lot” in efforts towards peace.
“I just spoke with President Trump @POTUS. An important conversation, and we got through a lot. We agreed to meet in New York, and this meeting could change a lot. There is diplomatic momentum,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X.
“There are ideas for de-escalation steps and for addressing fundamental security issues – energy security, food security, and the protection of human life,” he added.
Mr Zelensky said Kyiv is ready to take “really serious steps” in its efforts for peace.
I just spoke with President Trump @POTUS. An important conversation, and we got through a lot. We agreed to meet in New York, and this meeting could change a lot. There is diplomatic momentum.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 20, 2026
I thanked the President for Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s visit to Kyiv. We went…
Russia's ruling Putin-backed party on track to easily win parliamentary election
Sunday 20 September 2026 20:00 , Alex CroftRussia's ruling United Russia party was on track to easily win a parliamentary election with 57.5 per cent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said on Sunday.
Nearly 14 per cent of the votes have been counted.
President Vladimir Putin has cast the vote as a test of support for the war in Ukraine, but critics say the country's tightly-controlled political system does not tolerate dissent.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, says national unity and some censorship are necessary during what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
Zelensky shares footage of Russian attacks across Ukraine this week, says 2,000 drones launched
Sunday 20 September 2026 19:00 , Alex CroftVolodymyr Zelensky has shared footage of Russian drone attacks across Ukraine, adding that it launched 2,000 drones over the past week.
“This week alone, Russia has launched more than 2,000 attack drones against us, most of them jet-powered, as well as 1,700 aerial bombs and 19 missiles of various types,” he said on X.
The Ukrainian president added: “Yesterday, in the Kherson region, the Russians struck a monastery with an FPV drone. Tragically, one member of the monastery clergy was killed and four others were wounded.”
Every day and every night, we defend ourselves against Russian strikes. Yesterday, in the Kherson region, the Russians struck a monastery with an FPV drone. Tragically, one member of the monastery clergy was killed and four others were wounded. My condolences to the family and… pic.twitter.com/B7c61dhNuT
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 20, 2026
Ukraine fires over 1,000 drones at Russia, including hundreds launched at Moscow
Sunday 20 September 2026 18:01 , Alex CroftUkrainian forces fired more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including hundreds launched toward Moscow, officials said Sunday as the Kremlin was wrapping up the third and last day of its parliamentary elections.
Moscow’s mayor described the wave of drones as the “largest ever” attack on the Russian capital and said there had been damage to a Moscow oil refinery and a residential building.
Across the wider Moscow region, the attack killed two people and wounded 20, local Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. The dead were a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, he said.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the attack.
The voting in Russia was the country's first wartime parliamentary election — a balloting that was virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies and is all but certain to cement the Kremlin’s dominance.
Ukraine fires over 1,000 drones at Russia, including hundreds launched at Moscow
Russians living abroad vote in parliamentary elections
Sunday 20 September 2026 17:09 , Alex CroftRussians living abroad cast their votes on Sunday, the final day of a parliamentary election,
It was cast by many as a duty if ultimately a futile act of protest against President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine.
One exiled Muscovite, who gave her name as Olga, waiting in line to vote in the Armenian capital Yerevan, told the Reuters news agency she had no expectation her ballot would change anything inside Russia.
"It's about putting on a bit of a show," she said. "This is really more about symbolism, about bringing something positive, about solidarity."
The State Duma election, the first since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is likely to be presented by the Kremlin as evidence of public support for Putin's policies and for a war that is now in its fifth year with no end in sight.
Most anti-war candidates were barred from the ballot and the other major parties have consistently voted in line with the ruling United Russia on major issues.
'Glass went flying, people were screaming': Russian residents describe attack
Sunday 20 September 2026 16:24 , Alex CroftIn the village of Sofyino, south of Moscow, a body covered in a stained blanket lay in front of a damaged apartment block, the upper windows of which were blown out, Reuters reported.
"Glass went flying, people started screaming and shouting. I turned around and the entrance doors had already been blown out, debris everywhere," said resident Sergei Vitaliy, who gave only his first name.
A facility at the Moscow refinery was damaged in the attack, Mayor Sobyanin said, without giving further details, news agency Interfax reported.
Witnesses in Moscow heard blasts and saw plumes of smoke billowing from the site of the refinery.
Ukrainian strikes have knocked out a significant part of Russia's oil refining capacity, triggering oil product shortages, fuel price increases and long queues at filling stations in many regions across the country's 11 time zones.
