#MOSCOW, March 18. With 95.08% of ballots counted, Russia’s incumbent president, Vladimir Putin, leads the 2024 presidential race with 87.32%, according to results posted on the #Russian Central Election Commission’s video wall.

Communist Party candidate #Nikolay #Kharitonov is the runner-up with 4.28%, followed by the New People party candidate Vladislav Davankov with 3.85%. LDPR candidate Leonid Slutsky is fourth, garnering 3.15%.

#MOSCOW, March 17. The #Ukrainian armed forces continue their attempts to attack Russian regions during the presidential elections. Several regions of Russia were attacked by drones during the night.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, drones were downed over Moscow (4), Belgorod (3), Kaluga (2), Oryol (1), Rostov (1), Yaroslavl (4), Kursk (3) and Krasnodar (16) regions.

Here are the key facts known about these incidents at this point.
Reports from the regions

- Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported two drones downed in the Domodedovo city district and one in Ramensky and Stupino city districts each. According to preliminary reports, no injuries or damage was caused.

- Several drones attacked the Slavyansky oil refinery in the Krasnodar Region, according to the regional anti-crisis center. A fire broke out, but was promptly extinguished.

- One person died from heart attack in the Krasnodar Region; refinery workers were evacuated.

- Three drones were downed during attempted attacks on infrastructure facilities in the Kirovsky District of the Kaluga Region, one more was downed on the outskirts of Kaluga. No damage or injuries were caused, Governor Vladislav Shapsha reported.

- Four drones were downed in the Yaroslavl Region, no damage or injuries were caused, Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said.

- One drone was downed in the #Rostov Region, the consequences are currently being investigated, Governor Vasiliy Golubev said on his Telegram channel.
Strikes at border regions

- According to the Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, the Grayvoron city district was under attack during the night, which left about a dozen settlements without power. Residential buildings and outbuildings were damaged.

#MOSCOW, March 16. Online voter turnout in Russia’s presidential election on the federal platform has reached 90%, according to the portal on online vote monitoring.

As of 9:27 p.m. #Moscow time (6:27 p.m. GMT), as many as 4,268,291 ballots were issued to voters in 28 Russian regions, who had applied for voting online. Thus, voter turnout on the federal platform of electronic voting was 90%

Residents of Moscow can vote on Moscow’s own platform and were not required to apply for remote voting beforehand.

The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, officially designated March 17, 2024 as the day of the presidential election. The Central Election Commission (CEC) then announced that voting would take place over three days on March 15-17.