Russia's election enters final day as referendum on Ukraine war support

As Russia's three-day election draws to a close, the vote has been shaped into something rarer and weightier than a routine democratic exercise — a public reckoning with the costs and direction of an ongoing war. The Kremlin, by framing the balloting as a referendum on the Ukraine conflict, has invited citizens to render judgment not merely on candidates, but on a military commitment that has quietly restructured Russian daily life. The results, when counted, will be read by governments and observers worldwide as a measure of whether consent, or at least acquiescence, still holds.