A parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a ‌test of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine entered its third and final day ​on Sunday (September 20, 2026), with the ruling United Russia party expected to retain its dominance in ⁠a political system critics say does not tolerate dissent.

The State Duma vote, the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022, is likely to be presented by the Kremlin as evidence of public ‌backing for Mr. Putin’s policies and for the war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two, now in its fifth year with no sign of ending soon.

Most anti-war candidates ‌were barred from the ballot. Those who did run from the liberal Yabloko party, which ‌has ⁠polled in the single digits in recent years but hoped to tap into ⁠war fatigue, said they feared for their freedom after courts handed long jail terms to two senior party figures before the vote for comments about the conflict deemed illegal by authorities.

Discrediting the army or spreading what authorities regard as fake news ​are punishable by lengthy prison sentences.

The Kremlin ‌says national unity and some censorship are necessary during what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine. It casts the conflict as part of an existential struggle with a hostile West and says Ukrainian intelligence services and other enemies are stepping up efforts to stir unrest inside ‌Russia.

Permitted opposition parties could benifit

Mr. Putin on Friday (September 18, 2026) accused Ukraine of trying to interfere ​in the election, citing what he said was a Ukrainian strike on the home of an election official in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region that ⁠killed Elena Astanina, the official. Reuters could not independently verify details of the attack and there was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

Russian electoral officials also said on Saturday (September 19, 2026) that an online voting system in ‌Moscow had come under cyberattack. Kyiv, which has suspended elections under martial law, has dismissed the Russian vote as a “pseudo election”.

Despite what most experts see as the election’s predictable outcome, the NEST think-tank in Berlin, co-founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whom Russian authorities have designated “a foreign agent”, said the vote could still produce awkward moments for the Kremlin at a time of economic strain.

“The consequences of the war are increasingly being felt within the country, and accumulated anxiety and frustration may translate into votes ‌for the systemic opposition parties that the Kremlin has allowed to remain on the ballot,” it said in a note.

It ​said the Communist party and the New People party could attract votes the authorities would prefer to go to United Russia. Both parties have consistently voted in ⁠line with United Russia on major issues.

Mr. Putin told the nation in a televised address before the election that ⁠the vote would underline support for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

“Your choice, and your will, will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our soldiers, that ‌we are a united people bound together by shared values, historical memory, and love for our homeland, and that no one will succeed in dividing or intimidating us,” said Mr. Putin.

Initial results are ​expected to start emerging at around 1800 GMT on Sunday (September 20, 2026), with more complete results available on Monday (September 21, 2026).

Hundreds of civilians and prisoners have been subjected to sexual violence and torture — overwhelmingly by Moscow’s forces — since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the UN reported on Friday (September 18, 2026).

The UN Human Rights Office attributed 89% of the documented cases to “Russian authorities — including members of the armed forces, the prison service and the national security service”.

It blamed the remaining 11% on “Ukrainian authorities”, saying both countries should investigate promptly and bring perpetrators to justice.

“Some 1,004 cases of sexual violence were documented from February 24, 2022, when Russia’s attack on Ukraine began, through to the end of July this year,” the UN agency said in a report.

“Sexual violence has been used against civilians and prisoners of war [POWs] in Ukraine in a shocking pattern of torture, intimidation and coercion,” it said.

The 20-page report is based on confidential interviews “with hundreds of victims and survivors of sexual violence committed by both parties”, as well as court documents and official records.

“I am deeply alarmed by the prevalence of these abhorrent acts documented in our report, and fear that they are almost certainly continuing amid the unceasing violence we are witnessing every day in Ukraine,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.

Danielle Bell, head of the UN rights office team in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva the cases documented were “just a fraction of the reality”, given that UN investigators were only able to talk to around 10% of prisoners released by both sides and could not access regions of Ukraine controlled by Russian forces.

“Most of the victims of sexual violence were men, particularly in places of detention, but women and children were also affected, primarily in occupied territory of Ukraine,” the report said.

“The violations committed include gang rape, rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and beatings to the genitals, and other degrading acts of a sexual nature.”

The youngest rape survivor the UN documented was a four-year-old girl, and the oldest was an 82-year-old woman. It blamed both cases on Russian authorities.

Almost half the violations attributed to Ukrainians against Russians and other foreign POWs also “comprised threats of sexual violence”, the UN said.

Mr. Turk urged Russia to withdraw its military forces from Ukraine, in line with “binding international law”.

Russian Foreign ​Minister Sergei Lavrov and ‌U.S. Secretary of State ​Marco ⁠Rubio discussed the Ukraine conflict and the normalisation ‌of U.S.-Russia relations in a ‌meeting in ‌Manila ⁠on Thursday (July 23, 2026), the ⁠Russian Foreign Minister said.

Mr. Lavrov “reaffirmed Russia’s readiness for a ​political ‌and diplomatic settlement of the conflict,” the Ministry’s statement said, and ‌told Mr. Rubio ​that Moscow remained committed to ⁠proposals put forward by Presidents Donald ‌Trump and Vladimir Putin at their August 2025 meeting in Alaska.

The two men, ‌who met on the ​sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum, ⁠agreed to continue ⁠contacts, the Russian statement said. 

“A drone attack ‌killed seven people and wounded ​another 11 ⁠in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region ‌on Wednesday (June 3, 2026),” the Kremlin-installed head of the ‌region said.

Denis Pushilin, ‌posting ⁠on the ⁠Telegram messaging app, said the drone hit a passenger bus ​travelling between ‌Moscow and Simferopol in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Russia’s State Investigative Committee has opened ‌a criminal investigation under ​the category of “a terrorist attack,” the TASS ⁠news agency said, citing the Committee’s spokeswoman, Svetlana ‌Petrenko.

Russia conducted a massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) which Moscow said was ‌in response to a deadly ​attack on a dormitory in Russian-controlled Luhansk. ⁠Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said ⁠another Russian attack may be ‌imminent.

Norway hopes India will use its channels with Russia to push for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. Speaking to Indian journalists here in Oslo during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Norway, Mr. Store indicated that while the two sides had differences on the issue, he understood India’s need to source energy.

The Norwegian government has built a fund for Ukraine and sent in military support in the conflict, and has consistently pushed for more sanctions against Russia.

‘Respect’ for India’s energy needs

Mr. Store said it was useful to exchange views with Mr. Modi on Tuesday (May 19) on geopolitical issues, and he had “respect” for the reasons for India’s position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He also said that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had met their Norwegian counterparts for further discussions on the issue.

​Elusive peace: Editorial on the Russia-Ukraine war

“India is a huge country and has needs for its energy supplies. And Norway being an energy exporter, we should respect that,” Mr. Store said in response to a question from The Hindu, but added that there has to be “more pressure on Russia to come to the table and make real effort to end this war.”

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India has increased its intake of Russian oil multifold, with Russian crude that once made up less than 1% of India’s imports reaching high points of 40% of the whole.

Golden era of India-Europe ties | Inside Oslo summit during PM Modi visit

Mr. Store’s comments came shortly before the U.S. government announced it would extend its sanctions waivers on the import of Russian oil for a third month during the war in West Asia, while India said it would continue its oil imports from Moscow.  

“We believe that when Russia can feel that energy [exports] are also being restricted — their sales — that creates pressure on Russia. At the same time, I know that the Indian Prime Minister and Indian leadership have channels with the Russian leadership, and I hope to see that they can use them to get a ceasefire going,” Mr. Store continued, when asked about his comments during a joint press appearance earlier in the day, where he referred to issues where “Norway and India do not always see eye to eye”.

However, he denied that the differences had impacted the bilateral relationship between India and Norway in any negative way.

On India’s role in Arctic Council

Mr. Store was also asked about whether the divide over Russia would affect India’s engagement with the 8-nation Arctic Council that includes all Arctic states: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. India has been a permanent member of the grouping that discusses trade routes, climate change and ocean management since 2013, and Mr. Store denied a question on whether Norway expects India to “pick a side” between Russia and other members.

“We wish to see that India with its science, which is more and more impressive, can also be part of the research on Arctic climate, which is important for India. And I hope in the future that Arctic cooperation can come back to some more normal terms,” he added.

PM Modi and PM Store will be joined on Tuesday by other leaders of Nordic States — Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Denmark for the Third Nordic-India Summit.

The meeting is taking place a year after it was originally scheduled, as PM Modi had to cancel his visit after the terror strikes in Pahalgam and the 4-day India-Pakistan conflict.

When asked, Mr. Store said that all countries must take a firm position against terrorism, which Norway has also suffered due to.

“We have to stand together against [terrorism], to fight it in its darkest shapes, but also to prevent it. And for that we need political cooperation and today’s visit has confirmed that Norway and India are getting closer,” Mr. Store told Indian journalists.

The Kremlin repeated ​Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assertion that the war in Ukraine was almost ‌over on Tuesday (May 12, 2026), after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ​said Moscow had no intention of ending ⁠it.

“I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Mr. Putin told reporters on Saturday (May 9, 2026) of the war, now in ‌its fifth year.

Asked to comment on Putin’s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a certain amount ‌of trilateral work with Ukraine and the United ‌States ⁠had been done towards finding a peace deal.

“This ⁠accumulated groundwork in terms of the peace process allows us to say that the completion is indeed approaching,” Mr. Peskov told reporters, though he ​added that it was ‌difficult to provide specific details at the current time.

On Monday, Mr. Zelenskyy said, “Russia has no intention of ending this war. And we are, unfortunately, preparing for new attacks.”

U.S. President ‌Donald Trump has convened multiple rounds of talks ​with the warring sides to try to end the conflict, but no peace deal has ⁠emerged. Russia, which now occupies around a fifth of Ukraine, wants Kyiv to cede additional territory. Kyiv wants Russian troops ‌to withdraw.

Mr. Peskov said Russia would welcome further “U.S. mediation efforts” and Putin was prepared to meet Mr. Zelenskyy in person once the “peace process” was finalised.

“And for that finalisation, in order to put a full stop to it, a great deal of preparatory work still needs ‌to be done,” he said, adding that the conflict could end ​as soon as Kyiv and Mr. Zelenskyy “take the necessary decision”.

The warring sides agreed to a short, U.S.-mediated ceasefire ⁠from May 9-11, coinciding with the anniversary of the Soviet ⁠victory over the Nazis in World War Two.

Although neither side reported large-scale airstrikes during the ceasefire, ‌both said fighting continued along the front line and accused each other of drone and artillery attacks.

Russia’s army recorded almost no territorial gains on the front line in Ukraine in March for the first time in two and a half years, AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) showed.

The Russian army has been slowing in its advances since late 2025 — because of Kyiv’s localised breakthroughs in the southeast of the country — and lost ground in February and March on the southern section of the front line between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Across the entire front line, the Russian army seized only 23 sq. km in March, losing territory in some areas, according to the analysis.

This figure excludes infiltration operations conducted by Russian forces beyond the front line, as well as advances claimed by the Russian side but neither confirmed nor denied by the ISW.

The ISW worked with the Critical Threats Project (part of the American Enterprise Institute, or AEI), another U.S. think tank specialising in conflict.

The Russian army made 319 square kilometres of gains in January and 123 sq. km in February, which was then the smallest advance since April 2024.

Its advance in March was the smallest since September 2023.

The ISW attributed the slowdown to Ukrainian counter-offensives, but also to “Russia’s ban on using Starlink terminals in Ukraine” and “the Kremlin’s efforts to restrict access to Telegram”.

The messaging app, very popular among Russians, including those fighting on the front, has been barely usable in recent months due to blocks imposed by the authorities.

As in February, Russia lost ground on the southern section of the front line, between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where it occupied more than 400 sq. km at the end of January.

This area shrank to 200 sq. km in February and to 144 sq. km in March.

The situation was, however, unfavourable for Kyiv further north in the Donetsk region, towards the two major regional cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

In 2025, the Russian army made more progress in Ukraine than in the preceding 24 months.

But in the first three months of 2026, Russian territorial gains were half those of the same period in 2025.

Four years after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow occupies just over 19% of the country, the majority of which was seized during the first weeks of the conflict.

Approximately 7%, including Crimea and areas in the Donbas region, was already under Russian or pro-Russian separatist control before the invasion.

The next round of peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations will take place on Wednesday (February 4, 2026) and Thursday (February 5, 2026), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday (February 1, 2026).

Envoys from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. had been expected to meet that day in Abu Dhabi to continue negotiations aimed at ending Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbour.

“We have just had a report from our negotiating team. The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set: Feb. 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi. Ukraine is ready for substantive talks, and we are interested in an outcome that will bring us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post.

There was no immediate comment from U.S. or Russian officials.

On Saturday (January 31, 2026) afternoon, top Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said he had held a “constructive meeting with the U.S. peacemaking delegation” in Florida.

Officials have so far revealed few details of the talks in Abu Dhabi, which are part of a yearlong effort by the Trump administration to steer the sides toward a peace deal and end almost four years of all-out war.

While Ukrainian and Russian officials have agreed in principle with Washington’s calls for a compromise, Moscow and Kyiv differ deeply over what an agreement should look like.

A central issue is whether Russia should keep or withdraw from areas of Ukraine its forces have occupied, especially Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland called the Donbas, and whether it should get land there that it hasn’t yet captured.

Drones strike a Ukrainian maternity hospital

Elsewhere, Russian attack drones struck a maternity hospital in southern Ukraine on Sunday (February 1, 2026) morning, the Ukrainian emergency service reported. In a Telegram post, it said the strike wounded three women in the hospital in the city of Zaporizhzhia, and also sparked a fire in the gynaecology reception area that was later extinguished.

Days earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said Mr. Putin had agreed to temporarily halt the targeting of the Ukrainian capital and other cities, as the region suffers under freezing temperatures that have brought widespread hardship to Ukrainians.

The Kremlin confirmed on Friday (January 30, 2026) it agreed to hold off striking Kyiv until Sunday (February 1, 2026), but refused to reveal any details, making it difficult for an independent assessment of whether the conciliatory step had indeed taken place.

In the past week, Russia has struck energy assets in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa and in Kharkiv in the northeast. It also hit the Kyiv region on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring four.

Overnight into Sunday (February 1, 2026), Russia launched 90 attack drones, with 14 striking nine locations, Ukraine’s air force said in a Telegram post. A woman and a man were killed in an overnight drone strike in Dnipro, a city in eastern Ukraine, according to local administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.

Russian shelling also hit central Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, soon after 7 a.m. local time, seriously wounding a 59-year-old woman, according to a Facebook post by the municipal military administration.