Sweden

Stockholm, September 21, 2026. The Swedish press opens its Monday edition with the flames of the Kapotnya refinery rather than the ballot box. According to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, cited by Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet, Ukraine has launched 1,600 drones over Russian territory since Saturday, including 450 targeting the capital alone; 249 are said to have been shot down between 3 and 5 am in 17 districts. Sobyanin sees this as an attempt to "disrupt" the last day of the Russian legislative election, which ended on Sunday, and Sveriges Radio describes the episode as the largest drone and missile attack ever directed against Moscow since the large-scale invasion.

Sveriges Radio correspondents, including Fredrik Wadström, describe columns of smoke visible in several neighborhoods and a strike targeting "mainly power plants, heating installations, and refineries". The Kapotnya refinery, in southeastern Moscow, is said to have a capacity of eleven million tons of crude oil per year, according to Kyiv Independent, cited by Svenska Dagbladet; it provides 40% of the fuel for the Moscow region and is located 560 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Dagens Nyheter recalls that repeated strikes against Russian refineries have already reduced the country's refining capacity, causing fuel shortages, high prices, and long lines in several regions.

The human toll varies from one title to another: Dagens Nyheter mentions one death in the village of Sofyino, south of Moscow, while Aftonbladet cites regional governor Andrei Vorobyov, who reports two deaths in two separate locations, as well as the evacuation of 400 people, including 70 children, from a 21-story building in Ramenskoye. Expressen, more subdued, reports 76 drones shot down over the capital and a fire at a large warehouse filmed by witnesses.

Sveriges Radio also reports a cyberattack that briefly paralyzed voting in some polling stations; Russia attributes the responsibility to Kiev, while ensuring that it did not affect the outcome of the election. The announced victory of United Russia, meanwhile, occupies only a secondary place in the Swedish accounts of this electoral weekend, which took place under fire and smoke.