Putin promises to ‘punish’ Moscow terrorists who were ‘receiving assistance from Ukraine’

Vladimir Putin has stated that ‘all four’ gunmen responsible for last night’s ‘bloody and barbaric terrorist attack’ at a Moscow concert hall have been captured.

The Russian leader, speaking to the nation, mentioned that the attackers had attempted to escape towards Ukraine.

He alleged: ‘They tried to hide and headed towards Ukraine, where, based on initial information, a passage was arranged for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the border.’

Kyiv has firmly denied any involvement and instead accused the Russians of trying to exploit the atrocity to gain more support for the ongoing war.

Putin has announced that tomorrow, March 24, will be a day of mourning and expressed his condolences to the families of the more than 100 people who lost their lives in the country’s deadliest attack in 20 years.

‘Terrorists, killers can expect only one thing, they can expect punishment,’ he stated.

‘Our enemies will not divide us.’

The Kremlin’s insistence on the attack being linked to Ukraine comes despite the Islamic State group having claimed responsibility for it.

US intelligence has also confirmed the group carried it out and said they warned Moscow in advance.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied any involvement.

‘Ukraine has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods,’ he posted on X.

‘Everything in this war will be decided only on the battlefield.’

Ukraine’s foreign ministry also denied that the country had any involvement and accused Moscow of using the attack to try to stoke fervour for its war efforts.

‘We consider such accusations to be a planned provocation by the Kremlin to further fuel anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Russian society, create conditions for increased mobilization of Russian citizens to participate in the criminal aggression against our country and discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community,’ a ministry said in a statement.

Images shared by Russian state media Saturday showed a fleet of emergency vehicles still gathered outside the ruins of Crocus City Hall, which had a maximum capacity of more than 6,000 people.

Videos posted online showed gunmen in the venue shooting civilians at point-blank range.

Russian news reports cited authorities and witnesses as saying the attackers also threw explosive devices that started the fire.

The roof of the theatre, where crowds had gathered for a performance by the Russian rock band Picnic, collapsed early Saturday as firefighters spent hours fighting the blaze.

According to its Aamaq news agency, the IS’s Afghanistan affiliate stated that it had attacked a large gathering of 'Christians' in Krasnogorsk.

There was no way to immediately confirm the truth of the statement.

An American intelligence official informed the Associated Press that US intelligence agencies had collected information in recent weeks about the IS branch planning an attack in Moscow, and that US officials had privately shared the intelligence with Russian officials earlier this month.

Messages expressing anger, surprise, and support for the victims and their families have poured in from around the world.

The UN Security Council denounced 'the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack' on Friday and emphasized the need for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also strongly condemned the terrorist attack, according to his spokesman.

In the meantime, Russia’s health ministry said that hundreds of people lined up on Saturday in Moscow to donate blood and plasma.

After securing his position as Russia's president for another six years in this week’s election, Putin publicly rejected the Western warnings of a potential terrorist attack, calling it an attempt to intimidate Russians, following a widespread crackdown on dissent.

He stated earlier this week, 'All that seems like open blackmail and an effort to scare and destabilize our society.'

In October 2015, IS used a bomb to bring down a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of whom were Russian vacation-goers returning from Egypt.

The group, which mainly operates in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, has also claimed several attacks in Russia’s volatile Caucasus and other regions in the past years.

It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

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