Ukraine launched a sweeping assault on Russia with a barrage of missiles and more than 1,000 drones, in what Moscow described as the largest attack of the war and an attempt to disrupt its parliamentary elections.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes targeted the “dollars that support the war machine,” arguing that the pressure should push Russia to end its “brutal war” and pursue peace.
“Tonight in the Moscow region, our long-range responses were felt very acutely,” Zelenskyy wrote early Sunday on X. “One of the key enterprises of the Russian Federation’s oil industry and an aggressor’s logistics facility have been struck. These are billions of dollars that support the war machine.”
Flames and smoke rise from Moscow’s oil refinery in southeast Moscow following a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack Sept. 20, 2026. (AP)
Zelenskyy called the operation a forceful response to Russian aggression and urged the United States, Europe and the Group of Seven to impose “new sanctions” on Moscow.
“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 wrote on X. “Ukraine is constantly looking for and finding ways to defend itself and respond to these attacks on life.
“It is important that our partners also look for and find ways to make Russia feel its war. Now is the right moment to take new sanctions steps against the aggressor and force peace through strength. The United States has the means to do this, Europe has them, and so does every G7 country. We are counting on new, strong steps.”
The Kremlin was concluding the third and final day of Russia’s parliamentary elections over the weekend. Two people were killed and 20 wounded, according to Moscow regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov.
Plumes of smoke rise from fires at an oil refinery following what authorities said was a Ukrainian drone strike during the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 20, 2026. (REUTERS/Stringer)
“The biggest attack by enemy drones has been repelled,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram. “This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had downed 1,110 Ukrainian drones across the country, including over Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea.
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Sobyanin said 450 drones were destroyed while approaching the Russian capital. The assault damaged the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building, he added.
“Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions,” Zelenskyy wrote in a second post on X. “Steps toward de-escalation are on the table – in energy and food security. What is needed is political will. I thank everyone who is strengthening Ukraine’s long-range capabilities. I am grateful to everyone who complements our long-range responses with responses through sanctions.”
Ukraine was also facing continued Russian attacks, Zelenskyy said. A Russian drone strike hit a monastery in the Kherson region on Saturday, killing a member of the clergy and injuring four others, he said.
An office building burns following a Russian drone attack in central Odesa, Ukraine, on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (Michael Shtekel/AP)
A separate Russian strike on Kyiv killed three children and their mother Saturday night, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional state administration.
Ukraine’s latest drone operation came on the final day of Russia’s first wartime parliamentary election, a vote that has faced virtually no opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies.
Russia also held voting in four Ukrainian regions it claimed after the invasion began, despite lacking full control of those territories. Balloting took place as well in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Russia seized in 2014.
Putin accused Ukraine of attempting to interfere in the election, pointing to what he said was a Ukrainian strike that killed an election official at her home Tuesday in the Russian-controlled portion of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Reuters could not independently verify the details, and Kyiv did not comment.
In a televised address before voting began, Putin said the election would demonstrate 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,” Putin said.