Polls close in Russian wartime election with ruling party set to dominate

The Kremlin wants the elections to showcase popular support for the war in Ukraine and legitimise its action. The ruling United Russia party is on course to win the country’s first wartime parliamentary elections, according to early returns from the tightly controlled vote, which was marked by cyberattacks and a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks. The Kremlin wants the elections, the first parliamentary vote since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, to showcase popular support for the war and legitimise its action. Russian government officials accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt voting after Kyiv launched hundreds of drones at Moscow and other regions in what the TASS state news agency said was the biggest attack of its kind since the war began.

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