At least 40 people have been killed after gunmen burst into a concert hall in Moscow and fired at the crowd, according to Russia’s FSB security service.
The gunmen, wearing combat fatigues, also caused a huge blaze at the Crocus City Hall. Russian media reported the venue’s roof was collapsing.
The attack, which Russian authorities are investigating as terrorism, is Russia’s deadliest in recent years.
More than 100 were wounded, the FSB said. Russian media said children were among the dead, citing a Russian MP.
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Gunmen burst into concert hall
Footage taken inside the auditorium shows up to four gunmen firing automatic weapons as people crouch and hide behind seats.
Image: A Russian National Guard serviceman in front of the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue. Pic: AP
Image: Russian authorities at the scene. Pic: Reuters
In other videos posted by Russian media and Telegram channels, extended rounds of gunfire could be heard while men with rifles moved through the venue’s mall.
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Russian news reports said the attackers threw explosives, triggering the massive blaze at the venue, where flames and plumes of black smoke could be seen rising into the air.
Reports said concertgoers were being evacuated but an unknown number could have been trapped by the blaze.
All tickets in the 6,200-seat concert hall for a performance by Soviet-era rock group Picnic had been sold out.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the raid.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the attack as a “huge tragedy” and cancelled all mass gatherings scheduled for the weekend.
Russian authorities said security had been tightened at Moscow’s airports and railway stations.
Image: Emergency service vehicles at the scene. Pic: Reuters
Image: Thick black smoke rises into the sky from the Crocus City Hall concert venue. Pic: AP
President Vladimir Putin was receiving regular updates about the shooting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Two weeks ago the US embassy in Russia warned “extremists have imminent plans to attack large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts”.
It issued the warning several hours after the FSB said it had foiled an attack on a synagogue in Moscow by an Islamic State cell.
Image: Russian authorities stand guard. Pic: Reuters
Image: Men cover themselves with blankets near the burning venue. Pic: Reuters
Image: Russian special operations forces near Crocus City Hall. Pic: Reuters
White House national security adviser John Kirby said he could not yet speak about all the details but that “the images are just horrible. And just hard to watch”.
Mr Kirby said there was “no indication at this time that Ukraine, Ukrainians were involved”.
But Russia said if the US knew for sure Ukraine was not involved then it should share any information it had.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “On what basis do officials in Washington draw any conclusions in the midst of a tragedy about someone’s innocence?”
She said if Washington had information it should be shared and if it had no information it should not be talking in such a way.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Kyiv had nothing to do with the attack.
“Let’s be straight about this: Ukraine had absolutely nothing to do with these events,” Mr Podolyak said.
“We have a full-scale, all-out war with the Russian regular army and with the Russian Federation as a country. And regardless of everything, everything will be decided on the battlefield.”
It comes days after Mr Putin secured his fifth term as Russia’s president in an electoral landslide.
Russia was shaken by a series of deadly terror attacks in the early 2000s as it fought separatists in the Russian province of Chechnya.
In October 2002 Chechen militants took around 800 people hostage at a theatre in Moscow which was stormed by Russian special forces two days later, leaving 129 hostages and 41 Chechen fighters dead, most from the effects of the gas Russian forces used to subdue the attackers.
In September 2004 around 30 Chechen militants seized hundreds of hostages at a school in southern Russia. The siege ended in a bloodbath two days later with more than 330 people, about half of them children, killed.
Donald Trump has described crucial trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as “amazing” – and says he will visit Beijing in April.
The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies met in South Korea as they tried to defuse growing tensions – with both countries imposing aggressive tariffs on exports since the president’s second term began.
Aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump confirmed tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US will be reduced, which could prove much-needed relief to consumers.
It was also agreed that Beijing will work “hard” to stop fentanyl flowing into the US.
Semiconductor chips were another issue raised during their 100-minute meeting, but the president admitted certain issues weren’t discussed.
“On a scale of one to 10, the meeting with Xi was 12,” he told reporters en route back to the US.
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‘Their handshake was almost a bit awkward’
Xi a ‘tough negotiator’, says Trump
The talks conclude a whirlwind visit across Asia – with Mr Trump saying he was “too busy” to see Kim Jong Un.
However, the president said he would be willing to fly back to see the North Korean leader, with a view to discussing denuclearisation.
Mr Trump had predicted negotiations with his Chinese counterpart would last for three or four hours – but their meeting ended in less than two.
The pair shook hands before the summit, with the US president quipping: “He’s a tough negotiator – and that’s not good!”
It marks the first face-to-face meeting between both men since 2019 – back in Mr Trump’s first term.
Image: Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Pic: AP
There were signs that Beijing had extended an olive branch to Washington ahead of the talks, with confirmation China will start buying US soybeans again.
American farmers have been feeling the pinch since China stopped making purchases earlier this year – not least because the country was their biggest overseas market.
Chinese stocks reached a 10-year high early on Thursday as investors digested their meeting, with the yuan rallying to a one-year high against the US dollar.
Analysis: A fascinating power play
Sky News Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith – who is in Busan where the talks took place – said it was fascinating to see the power play between both world leaders.
She said: “Trump moved quickly to dominate the space – leaning in, doing all the talking, even responding very briefly to a few thrown questions.
“That didn’t draw so much as an eyebrow raise from his counterpart, who was totally inscrutable. Xi does not like or respond well to unscripted moments, Trump lives for them.”
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2:43
Will Trump really run for a third term?
On Truth Social, Mr Trump had described the summit as a gathering of the “G2” – a nod to America and China’s status as the world’s two biggest economies.
While en route to see President Xi, he also revealed that the US “Department of War” has now been ordered to start testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the Sudanese city of Al Fashir by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a two-day window after the paramilitary group captured the regional capital, analysts believe.
Sky News is not able to independently verify the claim by Yale Humanitarian Labs, as the city remains under a telecommunications blackout.
Stains and shapes resembling blood and corpses can be seen from space in satellite images analysed by the research lab.
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale Humanitarian Labs, said: “In the past 48 hours since we’ve had [satellite] imagery over Al Fashir, we see a proliferation of objects that weren’t there before RSF took control of Al Fashir – they are approximately 1.3m to 2m long which is critical because in satellite imagery at very high resolution, that’s the average length of a human body lying vertical.”
Mini Minawi, the governor of North Darfur, said on X that 460 civilians have been killed in the last functioning hospital in the city.
The Sudan Doctors Network has also shared that the RSF “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside Al Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards”.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reports.
Satellite images support the claims of a massacre at Al Saudi Hospital, according to Mr Raymond, who said YHL’s report detailed “a large pile of them [objects believed to be bodies] against a wall at one building at Saudi hospital. And we believe that’s consistent with reports that patients and staff were executed en masse”.
In a video message released on Wednesday, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged “violations in Al Fashir” and claimed “an investigation committee should start to hold any soldier or officer accountable”.
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3:00
Army soldiers ‘fled key Sudan city’ before capture
Image: The Saudi Maternity Hospital in Al Fashir. Pic: Airbus DS /2025 via AP
The commander is known for committing atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s as a Janjaweed militia leader, and the RSF has been accused of carrying out genocide in Darfur 20 years on.
Sources have told Sky News the RSF is holding doctors, journalists and politicians captive, demanding ransoms from some families to release their loved ones.
One video shows a man from Al Fashir with an armed man kneeling on the ground, telling his family to pay 15,000. The currency was not made clear.
In some cases, ransoms have been paid, but then more messages come demanding that more money be transferred to secure release.
Muammer Ibrahim, a journalist based in the city, is currently being held by the RSF, who initially shared videos of him crouched on the ground, surrounded by fighters, announcing his hometown had been captured under duress.
He is being held incommunicado as his family scrambles to negotiate his release. Muammer courageously covered the siege of Al Fashir for months, enduring starvation and shelling.
The Committee to Protect Journalists regional director Sara Qudah said the abduction of Muammar Ibrahim “is a grave and alarming reminder that journalists in Al Fashir are being targeted simply for telling the truth”.