Russia's United Russia wins record Duma supermajority as Kyiv drone strike hits Moscow

Russia's ruling United Russia party has secured a record supermajority in the State Duma, according to preliminary results from the country's tightly controlled parliamentary vote. Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said the party won 355 of the 450 seats, surpassing its previous high of 343 seats in 2016. The result gives the Kremlin-backed party more than the 301 seats needed to change the constitution.

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The three-day election excluded parties critical of the Kremlin or the war in Ukraine, and voting also took place in occupied parts of Ukraine, including Crimea and the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Pamfilova said turnout was more than 59 percent. Final results are due later this week, and the Communist Party came second with 40 seats, followed by the nationalist LDPR with 25, New People with 20 and A Just Russia with four.

The vote came as Kyiv carried out what was described as its biggest drone attack of the war on Moscow, killing two people and setting an oil refinery ablaze. Russia's defence ministry accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt the election and said it would intensify strikes on Kyiv. The timing linked the parliamentary result with a sharp escalation in the war, underscoring how the conflict continues to shape domestic politics inside Russia.

The election was the first parliamentary vote in Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Criticism of the war is banned, and Yabloko, the only party calling for an end to the fighting, was barred from running for the national parliament, although it was allowed to stand in some regional votes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the results pointed to a high level of consolidation around the head of state, while the European Union said the process showed a deepening erosion of democracy.

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The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said the Kremlin had silenced dissent and shut out international election monitors. In a statement on behalf of the bloc, she said the EU would impose sanctions on those who organised the vote or stood as candidates in occupied Ukrainian territory. The bloc also said it would not recognise the so-called elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

That position adds to the diplomatic pressure surrounding the vote and the wider war. What remains unclear is how the final seat allocation will look once all results are confirmed later this week. It is also not yet clear how Moscow will respond to the drone strike beyond the defence ministry's pledge to intensify attacks on Kyiv.

The election result, the wartime strike and the threatened EU sanctions together point to a period of continued confrontation both inside Russia and across the conflict zone.

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