"According to preliminary data, as a result of the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall building 40 people were killed and over 100 were injured," Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement reported by TASS.
Citing eyewitnesses, the Russian news agency reported that the group of unidentified men "armed with assault rifles went on a shooting spree in the lobby and then inside the concert hall just before a concert by the rock band Picnic."
The attack comes on the heels of Russian President Vladimir Putin's contested reelection and over two years into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has received weapons support from around the world, including the United States.
In a lengthy social media post, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall.
"There is not the slightest doubt that the events in the Moscow suburbs will contribute to a sharp increase in military propaganda, accelerated militarization, expanded mobilization, and, ultimately, the scaling up of the war," Podolyak added. "And also to justify manifest genocidal strikes against the civilian population of Ukraine."
According to The Guardian, John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters that there's no indication at this time that Ukraine, or Ukrainians were involved in the shooting... We're taking a look at it, but I would disabuse you at this early hour of any connection to Ukraine."
Asked whether the attack signals cracks in Putin's regime, Kirby said that there are people in Moscow and in Russia that object to the way Putin is governing the country, but I don't think we, at this early hour, can make a link between the shopping mall attack and political motivations. I think... we just need more time and we need to learn more information."
Taliban condemns terrorist attack on concert hall in Russia
ReplyDeleteThe Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan has strongly condemned Friday’s terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemns in the strongest terms the recent terrorist attack in Moscow, Russia, claimed by Daesh and considers it a blatant violation of all human standards," the ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi wrote on X.
"Daesh, which has targeted civilians in Afghanistan and other regions of the world as well, again clearly demonstrated through this incident that it is a group in the hands of intelligence agencies aimed at defaming Islam and posing a threat to the entire region. The regional countries must take a coordinated, clear and resolute position against such incidents directed at regional destabilization," he added.
The terrorist attack took place at the Crocus City Hall in the town of Krasnogorsk outside Moscow late on March 22. Unidentified gunmen armed with automatic weapons went on a shooting spree. According to the latest data from Russia’s Investigative Committee, over 60 people were killed but that number may grow. According to the Moscow Region’s Health Ministry, there are three children among those killed. As many as 121 people remain hospitalized.