What We Know about the Shooting at a Concert Venue Near Moscow

A Russian policeman guards near the burned Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 23 March 2024. (EPA)
A Russian policeman guards near the burned Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 23 March 2024. (EPA)
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What We Know about the Shooting at a Concert Venue Near Moscow

A Russian policeman guards near the burned Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 23 March 2024. (EPA)
A Russian policeman guards near the burned Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 23 March 2024. (EPA)

Armed men burst into the Crocus City Hall near Moscow on Friday, killing at least 93 people and injuring many dozens more in the deadliest attack in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege.

What do we know about the attack?

THE ATTACK

The men, armed with Kalashnikov automatic weapons, arrived at the Crocus City Hall at around 7:40 p.m. (1640 GMT) in a minivan. Russian media said there were up to five men.

Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov informed President Vladimir Putin that there were four attackers, the Kremlin said.

They began shooting civilians at point-blank range. They shot people through the glass doors near the entrance turnstiles to the venue, witnesses said, then moved on towards the concert hall itself.

Videos showed the men shooting screaming civilians with automatic weapons. Bodies were then seen motionless.

As people took their seats for a concert by Soviet-era rock group "Picnic", shooting could be heard inside the 6,200-seat hall where all the tickets had been sold out. The group had been planning to perform their new hit "Afraid of Nothing."

The attackers were shown on videos from the scene methodically shooting at concertgoers as people rushed for the exits.

The men then set fire to the concert hall, pouring a liquid on the curtains and chairs before igniting it.

Reuters video showed flames leaping above the hall and plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky as the blue lights of hundreds of emergency vehicles flashed across the night.

The fire, which spread across nearly 13,000 square meters took hours to contain. The roof collapsed.

DEATH TOLL

Russia's investigative committee said on Saturday the death toll was 93.

Some sources said 145 people were injured. The Moscow Region said 121 people had been wounded. Earlier it had said 60 of the injured were in a critical condition.

RESPONSIBILITY

ISIS, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq agency said on Telegram.

"ISIS fighters attacked a large gathering of Christians in the city of Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of the Russian capital, Moscow, killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely," the statement said.

The United States has intelligence confirming ISIS’s claim of responsibility for a deadly shooting at a concert near Moscow, two US officials said on Friday.

The officials said the United States had warned Russia in recent weeks about the possibility of an attack - a move they said prompted the US embassy in Moscow to issue a warning to Americans.

Two weeks ago the US embassy in Russia warned that "extremists" had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow.

Hours before the embassy warning, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by ISIS’s affiliate in Afghanistan, which is known as ISIS-Khorasan or ISIS-K and seeks a caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

"We did warn the Russians appropriately," one of the US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

THE ATTACKERS

Russian media said there were five men. Reuters was unable to confirm just how many there were.

Russian investigators showed pictures from inside the hall showing an automatic weapon, vests with multiple spare magazines and bags of spent bullet casings that had been collected from the scene.

A grainy picture was published by some Russian media of two of the alleged attackers in a white car.

The FSB said 11 people had been detained, including all four of the attackers.

Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein, a former journalist, said that the white Renault used by the suspects was found in a village in the Bryansk region, about 340 km (210 miles) southwest of Moscow.

"One terrorist was detained on the spot, the rest fled into the forest," Khinshtein said.

He said a pistol, a Kalashnikov magazine and passports of Tajik citizens were found in the car. Reuters was unable to verify that information.



Ukraine’s New Defense Minister Reveals Scale of Desertions as Millions Avoid the Draft

Ukraine's newly appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov attends a parliamentary session in Kyiv, Ukraine, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
Ukraine's newly appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov attends a parliamentary session in Kyiv, Ukraine, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
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Ukraine’s New Defense Minister Reveals Scale of Desertions as Millions Avoid the Draft

Ukraine's newly appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov attends a parliamentary session in Kyiv, Ukraine, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
Ukraine's newly appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov attends a parliamentary session in Kyiv, Ukraine, 14 January 2026. (EPA)

Wide-scale desertions and 2 million draft-dodgers are among a raft of challenges facing Ukraine's military as Russia presses on with its invasion of its neighbor after almost four years of fighting, the new defense minister said Wednesday.

Mykhailo Fedorov told Ukraine's parliament that other problems facing Ukraine’s armed forces include excessive bureaucracy, a Soviet-style approach to management, and disruptions in the supply of equipment to troops along the about 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.

“We cannot fight a war with new technologies but an old organizational structure,” Fedorov said.

He said the military had faced some 200,000 troop desertions and draft-dodging by around 2 million people.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed 34-year-old Fedorov at the start of the year. The former head of Ukraine’s digital transformation policies is credited with spearheading the army's drone technology and introducing several successful e-government platforms.

His appointment was part of a broad government reshuffle that the Ukrainian leader said aimed to sharpen the focus on security, defense development and diplomacy amid a new US-led push to find a peace settlement.

Fedorov said the defense ministry is facing a shortfall of 300 billion hryvnia ($6.9 billion) in funding needs.

The European Union will dedicate most of a massive new loan program to help fund Ukraine’s military and economy over the next two years, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.

Fedorov said Ukraine’s defense sector has expanded significantly since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. At the start of the war, he said, the country had seven private drone companies and two firms developing electronic warfare systems. Today, he said, there are nearly 500 drone manufacturers and about 200 electronic warfare companies in Ukraine.

He added that some sectors have emerged from scratch, including private missile producers, which now number about 20, and more than 100 companies manufacturing ground-based robotic systems.


France Explores Sending Eutelsat Terminals to Iran Amid Internet Blackout

 Protesters hold up placards with pictures of victims as they demonstrate in support of anti-government protests in Iran, outside Downing Street, in London, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP)
Protesters hold up placards with pictures of victims as they demonstrate in support of anti-government protests in Iran, outside Downing Street, in London, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP)
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France Explores Sending Eutelsat Terminals to Iran Amid Internet Blackout

 Protesters hold up placards with pictures of victims as they demonstrate in support of anti-government protests in Iran, outside Downing Street, in London, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP)
Protesters hold up placards with pictures of victims as they demonstrate in support of anti-government protests in Iran, outside Downing Street, in London, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP)

France is looking into sending Eutelsat satellite terminals to Iran to help citizens after Iranian authorities imposed a blackout of internet services in a bid to quell the country's most violent domestic unrest in decades.

"We are exploring all options, and the one you have mentioned is among them," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday in ‌the lower house ‌after a lawmaker asked whether France ‌would ⁠send Eutelsat ‌gear to Iran.

Backed by the French and British governments, Eutelsat owns OneWeb, the only low Earth orbit constellation, or group of satellites, besides Elon Musk's Starlink.

The satellites are used to beam internet service from space, providing broadband connectivity to businesses, governments and consumers in underserved areas.

Iranian authorities in recent days have ⁠launched a deadly crackdown that has reportedly killed thousands during protests against clerical rule, ‌and imposed a near-complete shutdown of internet ‍service.

Still, some Iranians have ‍managed to connect to Starlink satellite internet service, three people ‍inside the country said.

Even Starlink service appears to be reduced, Alp Toker, founder of internet monitoring group NetBlocks said earlier this week.

Eutelsat declined to comment when asked by Reuters about Barrot's remarks and its activities in Iran.

Starlink’s more than 9,000 satellites allow higher speeds than Eutelsat's fleet of over 600, ⁠and its terminals connecting users to the network are cheaper and easier to install.

Eutelsat also provides internet access to Ukraine's military, which has relied on Starlink to maintain battlefield connectivity throughout the war with Russia.

Independent satellite communications adviser Carlos Placido said OneWeb terminals are bulkier than Starlink’s and easier to jam.

"The sheer scale of the Starlink constellation makes jamming more challenging, though certainly not impossible," Placido said. "With OneWeb it is much easier to predict which satellite will become online over a given ‌location at a given time."


China Says It Opposes Outside Interference in Iran’s Internal Affairs

Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
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China Says It Opposes Outside Interference in Iran’s Internal Affairs

Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)

China opposes any outside interference in Iran's ​internal affairs, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump warned that Washington ‌would take "very ‌strong action" ‌against Tehran.

China ⁠does ​not ‌condone the use or the threat of force in international relations, Mao Ning, spokesperson at ⁠the Chinese foreign ministry, said ‌at a ‍regular ‍news conference when ‍asked about China's position following Trump's comments.

Trump told CBS News in ​an interview that the United States would take "very ⁠strong action" if Iran starts hanging protesters.

Trump also urged protesters to keep protesting and said that help was on the way.