05:27Oleg Ukolov from the Moscow region described on Monday how he got out of the burning Crocus City Hall together with a group of other survivors of Friday's terrorist attack.
The eyewitness recalled that the people first went up to the top floor, and when everything became clouded with smoke, they decided to go down and barricaded themselves in a utility room, which Ukolov remembered on the way up.
"When we first went downstairs, there was a gap in the wall at the stairwell, I remembered it, and we went down. There were some women there, I told [them] to go downstairs, they came with me, they [met] someone else on the stairs, but we couldn't see anyone, so we had to touch everything, we were standing in front of people like we were completely blind. We got to the bottom by touch. I climbed into this opening, I guess it turned out that I was the first to get in," he said. "I found two bedside tables on top of each other. I knocked them over, and broke in - it was a utility room."
He added that they found a locked door to the outside and tried to break it, but it turned out to be well-framed, so they decided to break the walls instead.
"One man climbed up the chairs with me, we climbed up there. He was trying to unscrew the fasteners of these walls, and I was trying to break through with a chair leg, the chair. There was some strong sheet material [in the wall]. We ended up getting off, piling chairs at the other wall and started punching through it," the man continued.
According to Ukolov, they managed to break the wall and were able to escape through the opening when they saw firefighters arriving on the scene.
"The guys let all the ladies out and ran to the exit. We could see this glass wall. A firefighter was walking towards us, he just said: 'Guys, run that way'. Just near the exit, the firefighters were loading a man onto a stretcher, there was a pool of blood," he added.
"No, I'm not a hero," the man said. "Everyone who could help each other and those who had earlier broken through the exits to the roof, and those who tried to break the door, who took people away when shots went off outside the door. Everyone was a hero in there," he concluded.
Late on Friday, March 22, unidentified individuals dressed in military fatigues opened fire in the Crocus City Hall, a 6,000-seat multipurpose concert hall where a Russian rock band was set to perform. A massive fire broke out in the building shortly after.
The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ('Terrorism'). On Sunday, March 24, the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested all suspects in the terrorist attack until May 22.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the attack left 137 people dead, with 182 injured, at the time of publication. In turn, the Ministry of Health reported that as of Sunday, 110 were being treated in hospitals, and 32 had been released.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a day of mourning and described the attack as a 'barbaric terrorist act' in a televised address on Saturday, adding that all four perpetrators of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall had been found and detained.
"They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them from the Ukrainian side to cross the state border," Putin said.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claims the attackers planned to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border and 'had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side'.
In turn, the Russian Investigative Committee said that special services had detained four suspects in the Bryansk region, not far from the border with Ukraine.
On Friday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it 'categorically denies' accusations of Kiev’s involvement in the shooting.
Earlier, the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency reported that the terrorist organisation had claimed responsibility for the attack. Later, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the organisation as a 'common terrorist enemy'.
The UN press service reported on Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the terrorist attack on the concert hall 'in the strongest possible terms'.
"The Secretary-General expresses his deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the people and the government of the Russian Federation," the statement added.
A number of foreign countries, including the United States, Belarus and Turkey, expressed condolences in connection with the shooting in the Moscow region.
'I'm not a hero, everyone was a hero in there' - Survivor recalls helping people escape Crocus City Hall attack
Oleg Ukolov from the Moscow region described on Monday how he got out of the burning Crocus City Hall together with a group of other survivors of Friday's terrorist attack.
The eyewitness recalled that the people first went up to the top floor, and when everything became clouded with smoke, they decided to go down and barricaded themselves in a utility room, which Ukolov remembered on the way up.
"When we first went downstairs, there was a gap in the wall at the stairwell, I remembered it, and we went down. There were some women there, I told [them] to go downstairs, they came with me, they [met] someone else on the stairs, but we couldn't see anyone, so we had to touch everything, we were standing in front of people like we were completely blind. We got to the bottom by touch. I climbed into this opening, I guess it turned out that I was the first to get in," he said. "I found two bedside tables on top of each other. I knocked them over, and broke in - it was a utility room."
He added that they found a locked door to the outside and tried to break it, but it turned out to be well-framed, so they decided to break the walls instead.
"One man climbed up the chairs with me, we climbed up there. He was trying to unscrew the fasteners of these walls, and I was trying to break through with a chair leg, the chair. There was some strong sheet material [in the wall]. We ended up getting off, piling chairs at the other wall and started punching through it," the man continued.
According to Ukolov, they managed to break the wall and were able to escape through the opening when they saw firefighters arriving on the scene.
"The guys let all the ladies out and ran to the exit. We could see this glass wall. A firefighter was walking towards us, he just said: 'Guys, run that way'. Just near the exit, the firefighters were loading a man onto a stretcher, there was a pool of blood," he added.
"No, I'm not a hero," the man said. "Everyone who could help each other and those who had earlier broken through the exits to the roof, and those who tried to break the door, who took people away when shots went off outside the door. Everyone was a hero in there," he concluded.
Late on Friday, March 22, unidentified individuals dressed in military fatigues opened fire in the Crocus City Hall, a 6,000-seat multipurpose concert hall where a Russian rock band was set to perform. A massive fire broke out in the building shortly after.
The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ('Terrorism'). On Sunday, March 24, the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested all suspects in the terrorist attack until May 22.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the attack left 137 people dead, with 182 injured, at the time of publication. In turn, the Ministry of Health reported that as of Sunday, 110 were being treated in hospitals, and 32 had been released.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a day of mourning and described the attack as a 'barbaric terrorist act' in a televised address on Saturday, adding that all four perpetrators of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall had been found and detained.
"They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them from the Ukrainian side to cross the state border," Putin said.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claims the attackers planned to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border and 'had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side'.
In turn, the Russian Investigative Committee said that special services had detained four suspects in the Bryansk region, not far from the border with Ukraine.
On Friday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it 'categorically denies' accusations of Kiev’s involvement in the shooting.
Earlier, the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency reported that the terrorist organisation had claimed responsibility for the attack. Later, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the organisation as a 'common terrorist enemy'.
The UN press service reported on Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the terrorist attack on the concert hall 'in the strongest possible terms'.
"The Secretary-General expresses his deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the people and the government of the Russian Federation," the statement added.
A number of foreign countries, including the United States, Belarus and Turkey, expressed condolences in connection with the shooting in the Moscow region.
Oleg Ukolov from the Moscow region described on Monday how he got out of the burning Crocus City Hall together with a group of other survivors of Friday's terrorist attack.
The eyewitness recalled that the people first went up to the top floor, and when everything became clouded with smoke, they decided to go down and barricaded themselves in a utility room, which Ukolov remembered on the way up.
"When we first went downstairs, there was a gap in the wall at the stairwell, I remembered it, and we went down. There were some women there, I told [them] to go downstairs, they came with me, they [met] someone else on the stairs, but we couldn't see anyone, so we had to touch everything, we were standing in front of people like we were completely blind. We got to the bottom by touch. I climbed into this opening, I guess it turned out that I was the first to get in," he said. "I found two bedside tables on top of each other. I knocked them over, and broke in - it was a utility room."
He added that they found a locked door to the outside and tried to break it, but it turned out to be well-framed, so they decided to break the walls instead.
"One man climbed up the chairs with me, we climbed up there. He was trying to unscrew the fasteners of these walls, and I was trying to break through with a chair leg, the chair. There was some strong sheet material [in the wall]. We ended up getting off, piling chairs at the other wall and started punching through it," the man continued.
According to Ukolov, they managed to break the wall and were able to escape through the opening when they saw firefighters arriving on the scene.
"The guys let all the ladies out and ran to the exit. We could see this glass wall. A firefighter was walking towards us, he just said: 'Guys, run that way'. Just near the exit, the firefighters were loading a man onto a stretcher, there was a pool of blood," he added.
"No, I'm not a hero," the man said. "Everyone who could help each other and those who had earlier broken through the exits to the roof, and those who tried to break the door, who took people away when shots went off outside the door. Everyone was a hero in there," he concluded.
Late on Friday, March 22, unidentified individuals dressed in military fatigues opened fire in the Crocus City Hall, a 6,000-seat multipurpose concert hall where a Russian rock band was set to perform. A massive fire broke out in the building shortly after.
The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ('Terrorism'). On Sunday, March 24, the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested all suspects in the terrorist attack until May 22.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the attack left 137 people dead, with 182 injured, at the time of publication. In turn, the Ministry of Health reported that as of Sunday, 110 were being treated in hospitals, and 32 had been released.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a day of mourning and described the attack as a 'barbaric terrorist act' in a televised address on Saturday, adding that all four perpetrators of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall had been found and detained.
"They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them from the Ukrainian side to cross the state border," Putin said.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claims the attackers planned to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border and 'had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side'.
In turn, the Russian Investigative Committee said that special services had detained four suspects in the Bryansk region, not far from the border with Ukraine.
On Friday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it 'categorically denies' accusations of Kiev’s involvement in the shooting.
Earlier, the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency reported that the terrorist organisation had claimed responsibility for the attack. Later, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the organisation as a 'common terrorist enemy'.
The UN press service reported on Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the terrorist attack on the concert hall 'in the strongest possible terms'.
"The Secretary-General expresses his deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the people and the government of the Russian Federation," the statement added.
A number of foreign countries, including the United States, Belarus and Turkey, expressed condolences in connection with the shooting in the Moscow region.