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

WorldPolitics
21 Sep 2026 • 12:12 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

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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.

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What Putin’s war in Ukraine means for Russian elections this week

Key Points

  • Russia's ruling Putin-backed party on track to easily win parliamentary election
  • Zelensky says he will meet Trump in New York - and that it could 'change a lot'
  • Two killed in Moscow region after attack with hundreds of drones, mayor claims
  • Ukraine's military struck an oil refinery in Moscow region, Zelensky says
  • Kyiv downs Russian jet-powered Shahed drones with new interceptor drone
  • Russia reports online attacks on electoral system on second day of parliamentary vote

Russian opposition abroad holds protests

05:15 , Namita Singh

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.’”

Voters line-up to cast ballots during the last day of the parliamentary election in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, 20 September 2026 (AP)

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 Singh

The 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 Singh

Russia 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.

Members of a local electoral commission empty a ballot box before counting votes after the closure of a polling station (Reuters)

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 Singh

The 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.

Lyceum students line up to sing the Russian national anthem during polls opening at a polling station organised on the lyceum's grounds during Russia's parliamentary election in Donetsk (AFP/Getty)

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 Singh

The 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.

A voter casts a ballot during the last day of the parliamentary election in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, 20 September 2026 (AP)

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 Singh

Russia’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 Croft

Rogue 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:

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

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 Croft

Authorities 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 Croft

Russian drone attack killed a mother and her two small children in Kyiv region

Sunday 20 September 2026 23:01 , Alex Croft

A 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 Croft

Mounting 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.

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

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 Croft

Turkey 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 Croft

Some 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.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico attends a press conference at Bratislava Castle, Bratislava, Slovakia (Reuters)

Comment Putin’s election victory is assured. His victory in Ukraine is anything but

Sunday 20 September 2026 20:21 , Alex Croft

Vladimir 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:

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

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 Croft

Volodymyr 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.

Russia's ruling Putin-backed party on track to easily win parliamentary election

Sunday 20 September 2026 20:00 , Alex Croft

Russia'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 Croft

Volodymyr 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.”

Ukraine fires over 1,000 drones at Russia, including hundreds launched at Moscow

Sunday 20 September 2026 18:01 , Alex Croft

Ukrainian 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.

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

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 Croft

Russians 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 Croft

In 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.

Watch: Kyiv downs jet-powered Shaheds with new interceptor drones

Sunday 20 September 2026 15:47 , Alex Croft

Issues with electronic voting in Moscow reported

Sunday 20 September 2026 15:07 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, said Sunday that the electronic voting system had been targeted by cyberattacks in Moscow.

SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet, said 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.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.”

Turkey awaiting response from Ukraine, Russia on offer to end Black Sea fighting

Sunday 20 September 2026 14:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Turkey 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.

Investigation launched into death of Ukrainian activist found dead in the Algarve

Sunday 20 September 2026 14:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

An inquiry has been launched after a Ukrainian activist and critic of Putin’s Russia was found dead in Portugal.

The body of Ukrainian activist Pavlo Sadokha was discovered in Quarteira, a coastal town in the Algarve region, on Sunday.

The 56-year-old was born in the Ukrainian city of Lviv and had lived in Portugal for more than two decades before his death. In recent years, he had spoken out against Russian propaganda and Kremlin efforts to militarise young people.

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

Investigation launched into death of Ukrainian activist found dead in the Algarve

Russian elections vote could still produce awkwarness for Kremlin, think tank says

Sunday 20 September 2026 13:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Despite what experts see as Russian election's predictable outcome, the NEST think tank in Berlin, co-founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whom Russian authorities have designated "a foreign agent", said the vote could ‌still produce awkward moments for the Kremlin at a time of economic strain.

"The consequences of the war are increasingly being felt within the country, and accumulated anxiety and frustration may translate into votes for the systemic opposition parties that the Kremlin has allowed to remain on the ballot," it said in a note.

Vladimir Putin told the nation in a televised address before the election that the vote would underline support for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

"Your choice, and your ‌will, will once again demonstrate that millions of ​people stand behind our soldiers, that we are a united people bound together ‌by shared values, historical memory, and love for our homeland, and that ​no one will succeed in dividing or intimidating us.”

 (AFP/Getty)

Watch: Moscow attacked by hundreds of drones, killing two people

Sunday 20 September 2026 13:14 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia expected to retain control of State Duma

Sunday 20 September 2026 12:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Most anti-war candidates have been barred from the ballot in Russia’s parliamentary elections.

Those who did run from the liberal Yabloko party, which has polled in the single digits in recent years but hoped to tap into war fatigue, said they feared for their freedom after courts handed long jail terms to two senior party figures before the vote for comments about the conflict.

Discrediting the army or ‌spreading what authorities regard as fake news is punishable by lengthy prison sentences.

In a small act of defiance, Yabloko's leader, Nikolai Rybakov, demonstrably spoiled his ballot paper, writing his party's name and the slogan "For peace".

The Kremlin says national unity and some censorship are necessary during what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

It casts the conflict - Europe's deadliest since World War Two - as part of an existential struggle with a hostile West.

Moscow says Ukrainian intelligence services and other enemies ⁠are stepping up efforts to stir unrest inside Russia.

Exclusive: Drones targeting UK military sites nearly every day as threat from Putin grows

Sunday 20 September 2026 12:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rogue 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.

Drones targeting UK military sites nearly every day as threat from Putin grows

Two children and mother killed in Russian strike on Kyiv

Sunday 20 September 2026 12:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital killed two children and their mother on Saturday evening, said head of the Kyiv regional state administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said.

He later added that another child wounded in the same attack had died in hospital on Sunday.

Editorial: Russia has changed the nature of its warfare – so must we

Sunday 20 September 2026 11:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The rise in unlawful drone activity at MoD sites – as revealed by The Independent – is the latest sign we are engaged in a new form of conflict with Russia. If Britain is to win this ‘warm war’, we must bolster our defences, not simply to protect ourselves, but to deter further aggression.

Read our editorial here:

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

Russia has changed the nature of its warfare – so must we

Russian drone strike on monastery in Kherson region kills member of clergy- Zelensky

Sunday 20 September 2026 11:34 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A Russian drone struck a men’s monastery in the Kherson region, killing a clergy member and injuring four others, Volodymyr Zekensky has said.

In a post on X, the Ukrainian president wrote: “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 loved ones.”

The president added: “There were strikes on critical and civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Odesa regions. In the Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia regions, residential buildings were hit. Since the evening, the Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Cherkasy regions have also come under attack.”

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