Russia holds wartime election amid largest Ukrainian drone attack

Russia's elections consolidate parliamentary control amid active military conflict: the United Russia party's projected super-majority preserves Kremlin power to sustain or adjust military spending, legislation, and domestic policy without legislative opposition. The concurrent Ukrainian drone campaign—the largest Moscow-targeted strike in nearly two years—demonstrates escalating direct strikes on Russian civilian and industrial infrastructure, affecting Moscow's air defense expenditures, population morale, and industrial output. Voting inclusion of four annexed Ukrainian regions (Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson) and Crimea, rejected as illegal by Kyiv and the EU, signals contested territorial claims that shape future negotiation positions and international law precedents. The exclusion of the anti-war Yabloko party and imprisonment of dissenting politicians narrows the domestic political space and removes a measurable check on war-related decisions.