Putin says radical Islamists carried out Moscow concert hall attack but doubles down on blaming Ukraine – as it happened

The Ukrainian foreign ministry has said that in the space of a week, “Russia launched 190 missiles of various types, 140 drones & 700 aerial bombs against Ukraine.”

Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, has underscored that Europe needs a “leap forward” on defence.

“Four years ago, when we were facing the COVID-19 pandemic, many said that the EU was living a Hamiltonian moment because we decided to issue a common debt to alleviate the consequences of this crisis as Alexander Hamilton did after the US independence war,” Borrell wrote on his blog.

“We are now probably entering a Demosthenes moment, in reference to the great Greek politician mobilising its fellow Athenian citizens against Macedonian imperialism 2400 years ago: we are finally becoming aware of the many security challenges in our dangerous environment,” he said.

Borrell added: “A lot has already been done in recent years, however I am very much aware that a lot more remains to be done to match the magnitude of the threats we are facing. We need a leap forward in European defence and European defence industry.”

The death toll from Russia’s 12 March missile attack on Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region has risen to six, after a 59-year-old man died in hospital of his injuries, Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city’s military administration, has reported.

“Doctors fought for his life all these days, operated, did everything possible, but numerous injuries were not compatible with life,” he wrote on Telegram.

“Eternal memory … Condolences to family and friends. Today, 7 more people are in hospitals, injured after that shelling – three of them are in serious condition. Doctors are fighting for their lives, all necessary help is provided.”

“As for the situation in Kryvyi Rih as a whole, all city services, hospitals, and social institutions are working. The emergency shutdown schedules introduced yesterday afternoon by the power company were cancelled at night.”

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has said seven people, including a teenage girl, were injured in the Russian attack on Kyiv earlier this morning, up from a previous total of five people.

• There were reports of several explosions rocking the centre of Kyiv this morning, with Ukraine’s air force saying it had shot down two ballistic missiles targeting the Ukrainian capital. “Again this morning Russia is attacking Ukraine with hypersonic missiles. Loud explosions in Kyiv,” the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, wrote in a post on X. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reiterated calls to international allies asking them to supply more air defences to Ukraine in the wake of the attack.

• Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, called into question assertions by the US that IS was behind Friday’s Crocus City concert hall attack in Moscow, in which at least 137 people were killed. “Attention – a question to the White House: Are you sure it’s Isis? Might you think again about that?” Zakharova said in an article for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said all signs indicated that the attack was carried out by Islamic State, adding that it would be “cynical and counterproductive” for Russia to try to blame Kyiv. Macron also said the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack had also tried to commit attacks in France.

• Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and prime minister, discussed the suspects charged over the terrorist attack on the Crocus City concert hall on his Telegram channel. “Everyone asks me. What to do? They were caught. Well done to everyone who caught it,” he wrote. “Should they be killed? Necessary. And it will be. But it is much more important to kill everyone involved. Everyone. Who paid, who sympathized, who helped. Kill them all.” The Kremlin said on Monday that it would not participate in conversations about lifting the moratorium on the death penalty.

• One of the Russian landing ships hit during a recent missile strike on occupied Crimea was “critically damaged”, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) said. The Ukrainian military claimed on Sunday it had hit two large Russian landing ships as well as other infrastructure used by the Russian navy in the Black Sea during overnight strikes on the annexed Crimean peninsula. In a post on Telegram on Monday, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said the “Yamal” suffered a “hole in the upper deck that caused it to roll to the starboard side”.

The British Ministry of Defence said in its intelligence update that the two new armies Russia plans to create in 2024 will suffer from “resourcing problems”.

Russian Defence minister Sergei Shoigu announced on 20 March 2024 that Russia will create two new armies and 30 new formations by the end of this year.

They will reportedly be formed of 14 divisions and 16 brigades, however the exact location and composition of these units was not stated.

The MoD predicted a mix of mechanised, armoured, artillery and logistics is most likely.

They said: “It is a realistic possibility that these new formations are linked to previous new unit announcements and planned brigade to division uplifts.”

The MoD said it is unlikely that these new divisions will be understaffed given Russia’s successful recruitment efforts.

However, it added: “Given Russia’s limited training, widespread use of legacy equipment and infrastructure issues, it is likely these units would suffer similar resourcing problems.”

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has expressed his gratitude to the emergency service workers helping in the recovery effort after the Russian attack on Kyiv this morning that left five people injured.

“Russian terrorists launched ballistic missiles at Kyiv. Unfortunately, houses in a typical urban neighbourhood were damaged,” the Ukrainian president said in a post on X.

“As of now, 5 people have been reported injured. The rubble is being cleared. We reiterate that Ukraine requires more air defence systems, which provide safety for our cities and save lives. All of us who respect and protect life must put an end to this terror.”

On the frontlines, Zelenskiy, who has stressed his country’s dire need of air defense missiles, warned that Ukrainian troops are rationing artillery shells amid ammunition shortages.

With the government funding fight resolved, the US House of Representatives is expected to soon turn to a long-stalled national security package that would send military assistance to Ukraine, as well as Israel and other US allies.

Despite increasingly desperate pleas from Kyiv, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, had refused to bring the wartime aid bill to the floor until Congress finalized a government funding bill, which it did on Friday – before leaving Washington for a two-week recess.

The bill already passed in the Senate and support for Ukraine is broadly popular in the House, too, but a faction of hard-right lawmakers opposes sending additional aid to the country, and Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has put pressure on Johnson not to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. The Senate aid bill includes about $60bn for Ukraine as it defends itself from the Russian invasion that began nearly two years ago.

You can read the full story by my colleague, Lauren Gambino, here:

The Kremlin said on Monday that no country was immune to terrorism when asked if there had been a major failure by security services in preventing Friday’s deadly attack on a concert hall.

At least 137 people were killed and 182 injured when four men burst into the Crocus City Hall, spraying people with bullets before setting fire to the 6,200-seat hall; it was the worst attack inside Russia for two decades.

President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the nation on Saturday that all those responsible would be punished.

Putin said 11 people had been detained, four heading towards Ukraine.

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said all signs indicated that an attack on a concert hall near Moscow in which 137 were killed was carried out by Islamic State.

Russia challenged assertions by the US and other countries that the Islamic State militant group orchestrated the gun attack, accusing Washington of covering for Ukraine.

“This attack was claimed by Islamic State and the information available to us, to our (intelligence) services as well as to our main partners, indicates indeed that it was an entity of the Islamic State which instigated this attack,” Macron said.

“I think that it would be both cynical and counterproductive for Russia itself and the security of its citizens to use this context to try and turn it against Ukraine.”

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Macron said the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack had also tried to commit attacks in France.

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has not publicly mentioned the Islamist militant group in connection with the attackers, who he said had been trying to escape to Ukraine. Kyiv has denied any involvement in the attack.