MOSCOW:
A Ukrainian missile attack killed two people in western Russia and a separate drone strike set fire to an oil refinery on Saturday, the second day of elections that President Vladimir Putin has accused Kiev of trying to disrupt.
The war in Ukraine has cast a shadow over voting in the three-day presidential election, which is sure to hand Putin another six years in the Kremlin.
In the Belgorod region, where cross-border attacks from Ukraine have become part of daily life, the governor reported the death of a man and a woman. Video taken from Reuters showed fires burning and air raid sirens blaring in the empty streets of the city of Belgorod.
Dmitry Azarov, governor of the Samara region, 850 km (530 miles) southeast of Moscow, said the Syzran refinery was burning but an attack on a second refinery had been prevented.
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Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that it repelled attempts by Ukrainian forces to cross the border into the Belgorod region. Governor Gladkov said that, given “the current situation”, schools in much of the region would be closed on Monday and Tuesday, and that shopping centers in the city of Belgorod would be closed on Sunday and Monday.
Ukraine has carried out repeated strikes this week on Russian soil, particularly against oil refineries. Russia carried out its deadliest attack in weeks on Friday when its missiles struck a residential area in Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odessa, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 70.
Putin’s power is not under threat. At 71 and as president or prime minister since the last day of 1999, he dominates Russia’s political landscape and none of the other three candidates on the ballot presents a credible challenge.
His top critics are in jail or have fled abroad, prompting the opposition to label the vote a fraud. Russia’s best-known opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic penal colony last month and his supporters accused Putin of killing him. The Kremlin denied this and his death certificate said he died of natural causes.
High turnout in some areas
The Kremlin is hoping for a high turnout to show the country is united behind Putin.
The total participation had exceeded 40% by the afternoon of the second day. Some of the highest percentages – approaching 70% – were reported in the Belgorod region where the missile attack took place and in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine, where Kiev says the vote is illegal and invalid.
Russia’s ruling United Russia party said on Saturday it was facing a widespread denial-of-service attack – a form of cyberattack aimed at paralyzing internet traffic – and suspended non-essential services to fend it off.
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State news agency RIA quoted a senior telecommunications official as saying the level of cyberattacks against Russia was “unprecedented” and blamed Ukraine and Western countries. He said some of the activity had been traced to IP addresses in Western Europe and North America.
Friday’s vote saw a handful of protests, including the pouring of dyed liquid on polling stations and the throwing of a Molotov cocktail at a polling station in Putin’s home country, as well as cyber attacks.
The head of the electoral commission, Ella Pamfilova, said on Friday that the people who tried to disrupt the vote were “bad guys” and could face up to five years in prison.
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