Cheap airframes, an expensive line
Sergei Sobyanin wrote that more than 350 drones flew toward the Moscow region. Most were destroyed on an outer line. 64 were shot down as they neared the city. Zelenskyy said the same night that strikes hit the Yaroslavl oil refinery and a military airfield in Rostov.[1]
This tempo is not an answer to an election leaflet. A cheap, replaceable airframe stock makes the capital's air defence work every night. The claim that the line held is Sobyanin's own count. The refinery and airfield claims are Zelenskyy's. You cannot independently measure either; you cannot ignore either.[1]
The booths opened; the tempo did not drop
Booths opened in Kamchatka and Chukotka. The 450-seat Duma vote closes at 18:00 GMT on Sunday. Moscow is also collecting votes in occupied land. Yabloko was barred in August. Russia's Defence Ministry said it struck a logistics hub near Odesa and a cargo vessel at Chornomorsk.[1]
The vote did not postpone the attack. A postponement would have driven Sobyanin's overnight count close to empty. The alternative is simple: the wave was written against the refinery and airfield list, not the election clock. Then the cost is sought in fuel and aircraft, not in a ballot paper.[1]
Where to look on Sunday night
The thing to watch is not the seat split. If Sobyanin's count of drones toward the capital falls by 18:00 GMT on Sunday, the tempo was tied to the voting window. If the number stays near 350, the Duma clock bought no military pause.[1]