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Vladimir Putin has linked the deadliest attack in Russia for years to Ukraine – despite a branch of Islamic State claiming responsibility.

The Russian president may have ignored Western intelligence that came two weeks ago warning the terrorist group was planning an attack.

Survivor describes ordeal as mourners lay flowers; follow Russia latest

Here Sky News looks at what we know so far.

When did the attack unfold?

On Friday evening, the rock band Piknik had just come on stage at Crocus City Hall when a group of gunmen stormed the venue and started firing indiscriminately.

The four men arrived at the venue, which has a capacity of 6,200 people and sits 15 miles west of Moscow, in a minivan at around 7.40pm.

On its Telegram page, Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks. These claims have not been independently verified by Sky News.
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Gunmen are seen inside the venue

In this photo taken from video released by Investigative Committee of Russia on Saturday, March 23, 2024, a Kalashnikov assault rifle lies on the ground as Investigators from the Investigative Committee of Russia together with the operational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, work the scene after a terrorist attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia. Several gunmen burst into a big concert hall in Moscow and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people and setting a massive blaze in an apparent terror attack days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on the country in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. (Investigative Committee of Russia via AP)
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Kalashnikov on the floor of the venue. Pic: Russian Investigative Committee

They approached the metal detectors at the entrance carrying Kalashnikovs and began shooting people at point-blank range.

Video footage from inside the concert hall shows people screaming and running towards the exit as the gunmen fired in short bursts.

They are then believed to have poured liquid around the hall, igniting it before fleeing.

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Survivor describes ordeal

Read more
Who are IS-K and why would they target Russia?
Ukraine worried Putin will exploit Moscow bloodshed

Margarita Bunova, who was in the crowd and managed to escape, said: “I heard a blast. I thought it was a firecracker. But these crackles, they weren’t stopping.

“There was screaming, panic. When they started shooting, the people themselves were already downstairs. My husband grabbed me and we ran through the upper floor through the fire safety.”

As emergency responders scrambled to the scene, the hall went up in flames, with part of the roof collapsing.

They were situated around two miles away and took roughly half an hour to arrive, according to Sky’s security and defence analyst Professor Michael Clarke.

Vehicles of Russian emergency services are parked near the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue following a reported shooting incident, outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
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Emergency vehicles outside Crocus City Hall. Pic: Reuters

How many have died?

According to Russia’s investigative committee, 133 people have been confirmed dead so far.

At least 145 people were injured, with more than 100 still in hospital.

Men cover themselves with blankets near the burning Crocus City Hall. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Men cover themselves with blankets near the burning Crocus City Hall. Pic: Reuters

Who were the attackers?

The Russian Security Service (FSB) has said it arrested 11 people, including the four men believed to have carried out the attack.

They fled the scene in a white car and were detained in Bryansk, a region around 200 miles southwest of Moscow.

Footage being circulated by Russian media on Telegram shows some men being apprehended at the side of a road. One is heard saying: “I shot people,” as his hands are tied behind his back.

One of the suspects gave the name Shamsutdin Fariddun and said he was born on 17 September 1998.

Another, with facial injuries, spoke in Tajik via a translator and gave his name as Rajab Alizadeh.

A massive blaze is seen at the Crocus City Hall. Pic: AP
Image:
A massive blaze is seen at the Crocus City Hall. Pic: AP

Who has claimed responsibility?

The men are reportedly members of Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), which issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack four hours after it happened.

It said: “The attack comes within the context of a raging war between the Islamic State and countries fighting Islam.”

IS-K, an offshoot of ISIS, has vowed to form a caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran.

It is largely made up of former Pakistani Taliban fighters and recruits members across central Asia and Russia.

US officials have said they have intelligence that confirms IS-K were behind the atrocity.

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Why would IS-K attack Russia?

What has Vladimir Putin said?

Despite the IS-K admission, Mr Putin has suggested the suspects had links to Ukraine and were trying to flee there when they were arrested.

He said in a video address on Saturday: “They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them from the Ukrainian side to cross the state border.”

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Putin vows to punish perpatrators

He described the incident as “international terrorism”.

Kyiv has vehemently denied any involvement.

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Mr Putin vowed to punish those responsible, adding: “All the perpetrators, organisers and those who ordered this crime will be justly and inevitably punished. Whoever they are, whoever is guiding them.

“We will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this strike against Russia, against our people.”

Crocus City Hall. Pic: Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via Reuters
Image:
Crocus City Hall on Saturday. Pic: Reuters

What has the West said?

The US has said it had passed the Kremlin intelligence that terrorists were planning an attack in Moscow two weeks before Friday’s incident.

It said IS was planning an atrocity on a conference or concert venue.

US National Security Council spokesman Adrienne Watson said in a statement: “Earlier this month, the US government had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow – potentially targeting large gatherings, to include concerts – which prompted the State Department to issue a public advisory to Americans in Russia.

“The US government also shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding ‘duty to warn’ policy.”

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

Representatives of dozens of climate vulnerable islands and African nations have stormed out of high-stakes negotiations over a climate funding goal.

Patience is wearing thin and negotiations have boiled over at the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, which were due to finish yesterday but are now well into overtime.

After two weeks of talks, the more than 190 countries gathered in the capital Baku are still trying to agree a new financial settlement to channel money to poorer countries to both curb and adapt to climate change.

Talks have now run well into overtime at COP29, but a deal now feels much more precarious.

The least developed countries like Mozambique and low-lying island nations like Samoa say their calls for a portion of the fund to be allocated to them have been ignored.

Samoa’s minister of natural resources and environment Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster is one of the representatives who walked out.

“We are here to negotiate but we have walked out… at the moment we don’t feel we are being heard in there,” he said on behalf of more than 40 small island and developing states, whose shorelines are being lost to rising sea levels.

More on Cop29

Shortly after he made a veiled threat of leaving COP29 altogether, saying: “We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be INCLUSIVE.

“If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement here at COP29.”

Evans Njewa, who chairs a group of more than 40 least developed countries, said the current deal is “unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do.”

The last official draft on Friday pledged $250bn a year annually by 2035.

This is more than double the previous goal of $100bn set 15 years ago, but nowhere near the annual $1.3trn that experts say is needed.

Sky News understands some developed countries like the UK were this morning willing to bump up the goal to $300bn.

Developing countries are angry not just about the finance negotiations, but also on how to make progress on a pledge from last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

A group of oil and producing countries, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, have tried to dilute that language, while the UK and island state are among those that have fought to keep it in.

Mr Schuster said all things being negotiated contain a “deplorable lack of substance”.

He added: “We need to see progress and follow up on the transition away from fossil fuels that we agreed last year. We have been asked to forget all about that at this COP, as though we are not in a critical decade and as though the 1.5C limit is not in peril.”

“We need to be shown the regard which our dire circumstances necessitate.”

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

At least 11 people have been killed and 63 injured in an Israeli strike on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.

Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.

State-run National News Agency (NNA) said the attack “completely destroyed” an eight-storey residential building in the Basta neighbourhood early on Saturday.

Footage broadcast by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed station also showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.

The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike
Image:
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike

Map of Lebanon and Israel

The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack – the fourth targeting the centre this week.

At least four bombs were dropped in the attack, security sources told Reuters news agency.

The blasts happened at about 4am (2am UK time).

A seperate drone strike in the southern port cuty of Tyre this morning killed one person and injured another, according to the NNA.

The blasts came after a day of bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs and Tyre. The Israeli military had issued evacuation notices prior to those strikes.

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.

Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.

Read more:
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‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike

US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.

Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.

According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israel has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000.

It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia’s ‘unstoppable’ missile – as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia's 'unstoppable' missile - as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will ramp up the production of a new, hypersonic ballistic missile.

In a nationally-televised speech, Mr Putin said the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was used in an attack on Ukrainian city Dnipro in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Referring to the Oreshnik, the Russian president said: “No one in the world has such weapons.

“Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development.”

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Putin’s warning to the West

Russia war latest: Long-awaited US air defences arrive in Ukraine

He added: “We have this system now. And this is important.”

Detailing the missile’s alleged capabilities, Mr Putin claimed it is so powerful that using several fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with nuclear weapons.

More on Russia

General Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s strategic missile forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads – while Mr Putin alleged Western air defence systems will not be able to stop the missiles.

Mr Putin said of the Oreshnik: “There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production.”

Read more from Sky News:
What are storm shadow missiles?
How bionic limps are helping Ukrainian troops

Testing the Oreshnik will happen “in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia“, the president added, stating there is “a stockpile of such systems ready for use”.

NATO and Ukraine are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened following the strike on Dnipro, a central city with a population of around one million. No fatalities were reported.

EU leaders condemn Russia’s ‘heinous attacks’

Numerous EU leaders have addressed Russia’s escalation of the conflict with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying the war is “entering a decisive phase [and] taking on very dramatic dimensions”.

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Russia’s new missile – what does it mean?

Speaking in Kyiv, Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky called Moscow’s strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe”.

At a news conference, Mr Lipavsky gave his full support for delivering the additional air defence systems needed to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks”.

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