People stroll at the embankment of the Moscow River in Moscow, Russia on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, with the “Moscow City” business district in the background. The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district were once symbols of the Russian capital’s economic boom in the early 2000s. Now they are signs of its vulnerability, following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites shaken and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power.
“It’s very frightening because you wake up at night hearing explosions,” said a woman who identified herself only as Ulfiya as she walked her dog, adding that she lived in a nearby building. Like other Muscovites interviewed by The Associated Press, she did not identify herself further out of fear of retribution or for her personal safety.“I think for the first time, I got really scared,” she said. “I don’t understand how people in a war zone can live like this every day and not go mad.
The business district, a 10-minute subway ride west of the Kremlin, is home to some of Moscow’s flashiest restaurants, offering far-reaching views of the capital and a menu of upscale fare like three types of caviar, shellfish from Russia’s Far East and French cuisine.While Russian state television has largely played down the strikes, one channel sandwiched a segment on how Moscow’s air defenses successfully intercepted the drones in between reports highlighting Russian attacks on Ukraine.
While they haven’t caused much physical damage, bringing the drone campaign to Moscow “blows holes in Russia’s narrative that the war on Ukraine is successful and that it is being prosecuted far away from any consequences for the Russian people themselves,” said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at the Chatham House think tank in London.