Moscow concert hall attack: Russian day of mourning as Putin vows to punish masterminds – latest news | Moscow concert hall attack

The Ukrainian military on Sunday said that it struck two large Russian landing ships and a communications centre used by Russia’s Black Sea Fleet during overnight strikes on the annexed Crimean peninsula, Reuters reports.

A Russian-installed official reported a major Ukrainian attack overnight and said that air defences had shot down more than 10 missiles over the Crimean port of Sevastopol. These claims are yet to be independently verified by the Guardian.

Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks in recent weeks.

On Saturday, Russia said that it had repulsed a barrage of Ukrainian missiles fired at the city of Sevastopol in Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

Sevastopol’s governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said rocket fragments had killed a 65-year-old resident and four other people had been injured. “It was the biggest attack in recent times.”

Russia will observe a national day of mourning on Sunday after a massacre in a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 130 people, the deadliest attack in Europe to have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

Flags are flying at half mast, numerous events have been cancelled and TV channels have updated their schedules.

Agence France-Presse reports that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has vowed to track down and punish those behind the “barbaric terrorist attack”, saying four gunmen trying to flee to Ukraine had been arrested. Kyiv has strongly denied any connection.

Putin, in his first public remarks on the attack, made no reference to a statement by IS claiming responsibility.

He has said that “all the perpetrators, organisers and those who ordered this crime will be justly and inevitably punished”.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said rescue workers were still pulling bodies from the burnt-out building on Saturday.

The emergency situations ministry has so far named about 30 of the victims, with the fire having complicated the process of identification.

Rescuers would continue to scour the site for “several days”, the Moscow region’s governor said.

About 107 people were still in hospital, many in a critical condition, said the deputy prime minister, Tatyana Golikova.

Welcome to our latest live coverage of the aftermath of the concert hall massacre in Moscow. The official death toll stands at 133. Here’s an overview of the latest:

Russia will observe a national day of mourning on Sunday after the country’s deadliest attack for almost two decades.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has vowed to punish those behind the “barbaric terrorist attack”, saying four gunmen trying to flee to Ukraine had been arrested.

Ukraine has strongly denied any connection, with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accusing Putin of trying to shift the blame on to them.

At least 133 people, including three children, were killed and 150 others injured when camouflaged gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall, in Moscow’s northern suburb of Krasnogorsk, and then set fire to the building.

As Russia lowered flags to half-mast for a day of mourning on Sunday over the deadly concert hall attack, officials said Russia had launched airstrikes on Kyiv and the western Ukrainian region of Lviv.

Poland’s armed forces said one of Russia’s cruise missiles briefly violated Polish airspace.

“The object entered Polish space near the town of Oserdow (Lublin Voivodeship) and stayed there for 39 seconds,” Poland’s armed forces said on the social media platform X. “During the entire flight, it was observed by military radar systems.”

The armed forces said that Poland, a Nato member, and allied aircraft were activated during the attack to ensure the safety of Poland’s airspace.

Meanwhile, Ukraine air defence forces destroyed about a dozen of Russia-launched missiles over Kyiv and in the vicinity of the capital, Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said. Only minor damage was reported from the attack.

In other developments:

• A US national security council spokesperson said Islamic State bore sole responsibility for the attack and there was no Ukrainian involvement “whatsoever”. Adrienne Watson said that the US government a few weeks ago shared information with Russia about a planned attack in Moscow and issued a public advisory to Americans in Russia on 7 March.

• Several security analysts have said Islamic State’s claim of responsibility appears to be plausible and fits with a pattern of previous marauding attacks by Islamist militants.

• The owner of the Crocus City Hall has said the building will be restored. “We will never forget those who fell victims to terrorists. What was destroyed by their dirty hands will be restored,” Crocus Group said in a statement.

• Islamic State released what it said was footage of the attack. The 1.31-minute video, released on Saturday on the group’s Telegram channels, shows a closeup view of one of the gunmen opening fire on several people as he enters what appears to be the concert hall.

• The four suspected gunmen arrested were all foreign citizens, Russia’s interior ministry said.

• Images from inside the venue show the auditorium has been completely gutted by fire and the roof has collapsed. Russian authorities say people died both from gunshot wounds and the effects of the fire.

• Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov told Reuters: “Ukraine was of course not involved in this terror attack. Ukraine is defending its sovereignty from Russian invaders, liberating its own territory and is fighting with the occupiers’ army and military targets, not civilians.”

• A Russian airstrike hit Ukrainian critical infrastructure in the western Lviv region on Sunday morning, local governor Maksym Kozytskyi said.
  “There were two preliminary hits to the same critical infrastructure facility that the occupiers targeted at night,” Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram.