Russian commuters have returned to work at Moscow International Business Center despite Ukrainian drones crashing into two towers.

The Moscow International Business Center, better known as Moscow City, is a commercial district hosting seven of Europe’s ten-highest skyscrapers, and houses offices for the country’s largest and best-known businesses. On July 30, 2023, drones hit the Oko-2 tower and the IQ-quarter complex, two of the area’s high-rises, injuring one. The damage was most significant to one of the buildings in the IQ-quarter, which saw windows on several floors broken, scattering some documents onto the streets. Videos from the scene, which went viral, showed a drone blowing up.

It was the fourth strike on Moscow in July, and a growing sign that the Russian capital is now part of the war zone and vulnerable to attacks.

However, despite the drone strikes, it appeared to be business as usual in the area on Monday, 31 July as workers came to the office for the start of the working week.

“It has become a new normal,” Ivan, an IT worker, told bne IntelliNews on the morning of 31 July. “It is amazing how we have all gotten used to drone strikes so quickly. Of course, it is different when it hits so close to your workplace, but I don’t think anyone will change their life because of it.”

Like Ivan, most commuters haven’t changed their schedule because of the drone strikes.

“Many of my friends chose to move abroad, I chose to stay,” one woman, who did not give her name, told bne IntelliNews. “When I chose to say, I also inherently accepted these risks. As you guys say in English, Keep Calm and Carry On.”

Others were not so stoic. Outside the IQ-quarter, near the Moscow river, commuters were taking a longer walk to their office to have a look at the damage.

“What horror!” Anastasia, a 22-year-old economics student interning at a business for the summer, told bne IntelliNews. “In the office, I heard many people complain about how the war is affecting our economy, but nobody expected that the drones would come so close. I just had to take a look before heading to work. It is crazy.”

Another worker, leaving the overcrowded Vystavochnaya metro station, hoped that she wouldn’t be coming to work in the office for a while.

“Our team group chat was crazy on Sunday afternoon. People were saying it is not safe to work here anymore,” Olga, a worker at a major Russian bank, told bne IntelliNews. “My line manager told me that the bosses were discussing whether we should work from home or not. Last night, just before bed, the message came through that all is normal, no change, nothing to worry about. What the hell?”

Ukraine is yet to claim responsibility for the drone strikes, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has welcomed them as a sign that the war is coming home.

“Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases. This is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” he said, in his daily address on Monday evening.