Woman suspected of Monaco bombing found dead near Kiev

2026-07-07 15:14:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

A woman suspected of carrying out last week's bomb attack in Monaco, which seriously injured a Ukrainian-born business tycoon, has been found shot to death near Kiev, in the latest twist in a case that has rocked the wealthy Mediterranean principality.

Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday that the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case, including an officer of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer.

On Friday, Interpol issued a red notice for 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska, a German-speaking Ukrainian national. The notice — a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally detain a suspect pending extradition — said Berezovska was wanted by Monaco on charges of attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent and criminal conspiracy.

Prosecutors said in a statement that Berezovska received cryptocurrency payments from the two men who were later arrested, leading investigators to treat them as “individuals potentially involved in the attempted murder in Monaco.” They added that the HUR officer on duty was “acting on his own initiative” and did not inform his superiors of his contacts with Berezovska.

Prosecutors also released footage showing a blood-stained "torture chamber" containing hammers and other equipment, which they said were discovered during searches of the men's properties.

The Guardian could not independently verify the prosecutors' account.

The issue could be politically costly for Kiev. Any evidence linking members of Ukraine’s intelligence services to a bombing on European soil would be deeply damaging, coming as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at a NATO summit on Tuesday, seeking to secure Western support as Russia continues its deadly bombing of Ukrainian cities.

Prince Albert II of Monaco previously condemned the bombing as "a heinous act" and said all of the principality's security services had been mobilized.

The victims have not been officially identified, but police and judicial sources told French media they were Vadym Iermolaiev, 58, a businessman originally from Ukraine who now holds Cypriot citizenship, his girlfriend and their son. Iermolaiev and his partner were taken to hospital with serious injuries, while the child suffered minor injuries.

French prosecutors allege that Berezovska, who had been living in Germany, disguised herself as a man before placing an explosive device in the entrance hall of the family's apartment building in Monaco.

Since Russia's full occupation of Ukraine, Iermolaiev had been living in Monaco as part of a group of wealthy Ukrainian businessmen and politicians that independent Ukrainian media dubbed the "Monaco battalion."

Ukraine imposed sanctions on Yermolayev in 2023, alleging that he had maintained business ties with Russian entities operating in Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow, including Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Monaco's deputy prosecutor said last week that the suspected attacker left the principality on foot towards neighboring France before traveling by car to Germany via several European countries, including Italy.

Ukraine has carried out numerous deadly operations involving explosive devices against senior Russian military officers and Kremlin-backed Ukrainian officials inside Russia, but there is no established precedent for such attacks on European territory.

Last week, German prosecutors accused Ukrainian "state authorities" of ordering the 2022 explosives attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia to Europe.