An explosion at an apartment building entrance in Monaco on Monday night wounded a Ukrainian tycoon with ties to Russia and two other people, according to the chief prosecutor of the Mediterranean principality. A search is underway for a suspect who fled on foot after the blast, Prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said on Tuesday, adding that the motive remains unclear.
Victims and Suspect Details
Media reports identified Ukrainian construction tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev as being among the injured. Yermolaiev has stated he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship nearly a decade ago and was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for his connections to Russia. A woman and a 13-year-old child were also hurt. The woman was in life-threatening condition and being treated at a hospital in Nice, while her partner and the child suffered less severe injuries and remained hospitalized on Tuesday.
“It appears that the family was specifically targeted,” said Christophe Mirmand, the minister of state for Monaco. He noted that surveillance footage showed the suspect “had walked around the area several times while waiting for the victims.” The suspect, seen in a black jacket, light-colored pants, white shoes, and a black bucket hat partially concealing his face, fled via steps to the neighboring French town of Beausoleil.
Investigation and Security Response
Monaco police have opened an attempted murder investigation, but Thibault told reporters it was not being treated as a terrorism case. The family members are “regular” residents of Monaco, and authorities were not aware of any prior threats against them, Mirmand said. The blast occurred around 9 p.m. Monday at the entrance of a residence near the French border.
Silvano Ippolito, who lives across from the building, described hearing the explosion and seeing a little boy on the ground being attended to by others. His wife, a doctor, provided first aid to the badly wounded woman, applying tourniquets and performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The woman’s injuries were severe, with Ippolito stating, “she had no foot.”
Context of Targeted Killings
Russia has a long history of targeting its enemies abroad, and Western intelligence officials have recently reported an increase in targeted killings since President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine is also believed to have carried out attacks on Russian figures, though those have largely been confined to Ukrainian or Russian territory. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said its embassy in France, which handles Monaco, is in contact with local authorities and providing assistance at the scene.
Shock in Monaco
The attack shocked Monaco, one of the world’s smallest sovereign states known for its wealthy residents and high security. Monaco’s Prince Albert II described it as “an odious act” and said all public services were mobilized to ensure security. The principality, renowned for its tax-friendly policies, Formula 1 Grand Prix, and glamorous royal family, is widely considered one of the safest places globally, with thousands of surveillance cameras covering most public spaces.
About Vadym Yermolaiev
Yermolaiev, originally from Dnipro, Ukraine, built his fortune through the Alef Group, a diversified business encompassing commercial real estate, manufacturing, and agriculture. He became one of Ukraine’s best-known property developers, reshaping parts of Dnipro’s city center, and regularly appeared in rankings of the country’s wealthiest entrepreneurs. In a 2017 interview with Forbes Ukraine, he said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a Cypriot citizen. In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions on Yermolaiev as part of a broader package targeting individuals and companies with business links to Russia or Russian-occupied territories.
Cyprus’ Interior Ministry cited confidentiality rules in declining to provide information about his citizenship status. The Cyprus Registrar of Companies lists a man called Vadym Iermolaiev as director of Vespano Ltd., a company in Limassol registered in January 2019.
