Men in camouflage broke into Crocus City Hall, a large concert venue in Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of Moscow, and opened fire on the crowd, Russia’s prosecutor-general was cited as saying.
A fire also broke out on the premises, endangering more lives, the Reuters news agency reported.
Firefighters evacuated about 100 people from the basement of the building and rescued many others from the roof, Russian emergency officials said.
Russian authorities said they were investigating the attack as a terrorist act.
A popular rock band was scheduled to play at the venue, which has a maximum capacity of more than 9,000 people, US broadcaster NBC News reported.
'The entire world community is obliged to condemn this monstrous crime'
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "The entire world community is obliged to condemn this monstrous crime."
White House spokesman John Kirby said: "The images are just horrible and just hard to watch and our thoughts obviously are going to be with the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack."
Kirby added that there was "no indication at this time that Ukraine, or Ukrainians were involved in the shooting," Reuters reported.
Ukraine denies involvement
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on the X social media platform that "Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall."
He added that "Ukraine has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods."
'We offer our sincere condolences to the Russian people': US embassy
The US embassy in Moscow said it was "horrified by reports coming from the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall" near the Russian capital.
"We offer our sincere condolences to the Russian people for the lives lost and to those injured in tonight’s attack," it said.
Polish PM says he is being kept updated about events in Moscow
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an X post late on Friday that he was being kept updated by his defence and interior ministers as well the security services chief "on the circumstances of the attack in Moscow and the possible consequences for the situation in the region and national security."
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Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters, NBC News