Russia's main Kremlin party, United Russia, was dominating the country's first wartime parliamentary election, according to early returns released Monday from a tightly controlled election virtually devoid of opposition.

Instead, Moscow and Kyiv have been drawn into an escalating duel of long-range aerial strikes as fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line in eastern and southern Ukraine has slowed, restricted by large numbers of drones and ground robots threatening troop movements.