Russian election authority: Drones demolished Russian polling station in annexed part of Zaporizhzhia before last day of elections

On September 8–10, Russia ran local government elections in the annexed parts of Ukraine. Russian election officials report multiple disruptions to the process.

According to the chairman of Russia’s federal election authority, Nikolay Bulayev, a drone strike demolished one of the polling stations in the annexed part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia on the night of September 10. The state-owned Russian media RIA Novosti quoted the official, who said that the strike took place around 2 a.m. this morning. While none of the polling workers were there at the time, the strike “was clearly intended to intimidate people, so that they wouldn’t show up to work,” Bulayev said.

The same speaker pointed out that daily missile strike alerts forced the Russian election commission in Henichesk, a city in the annexed part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, to take cover in a basement room several times a day during elections.