Backpack Bomb Hits Monaco Apartment, Injuring Ukrainian Oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev and Family

A backpack bomb detonated at the entrance of a Monaco apartment building on Rue Révérend Père Louis Frolla at 9 p.m. Monday, injuring three people including Ukrainian-born oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev and his wife and 13-year-old child.

“Police in Monaco and neighbouring France are hunting for a man suspected of detonating a makeshift bomb in the centre of the wealthy Mediterranean principality, which seriously injured several people, officials said”

Al Jazeera

Monaco prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said the suspect fled on foot toward the French town of Beausoleil, and he said authorities were pursuing efforts to identify and apprehend him in coordination with French authorities.

Al Jazeera

The Guardian described how CCTV captured an image of the suspect in a black jacket and bucket hat running from the scene toward Beausoleil, after Iermolaiev emerged with his wife and their 13-year-old child.

The Guardian also reported that Iermolaiev’s fortune was estimated at $225m (£170m) and that he was born and raised in Dnipro, while the New York Post said the blast blew off the legs of the woman who was with him.

CNN reported that the adult male victim was a resident of Monaco since at least 2021 and that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the three injured were members of “a family of Ukrainian origin.”

Monaco Minister of State Christophe Mirmand described the explosion as a “deliberate explosion,” and he said the suspect had walked around the area several times while waiting for the victims to arrive before detonating the bomb.

CNN reported that Monaco’s Prosecutor General Stéphane Thibault called the bombing an “attempted assassination” in a news conference on Tuesday, ruling out terrorism as the motive.

CBC

The Guardian quoted sources dismissing the idea that the attack could have been carried out by Ukraine’s special services, including a remark that “He’s an opportunist, not an open enemy,” and another description of him as someone with “no ideology” and “zero political views.”

The New York Post said the manhunt continued for the suspected bomber, and it quoted Thibault saying, “In coordination with the French authorities, we are pursuing efforts to identify and apprehend him,” while it also said the suspect was seen on video leaving a parcel bomb at the entrance.

CBC reported that Christophe Mirmand said, “It appears that the family was specifically targeted,” and it said the motive was unclear while prosecutors searched for the person who fled on foot after the blast late Monday.

Ukrainian sanctions and alleged Crimea business were central to the background, with the Guardian saying Ukraine imposed personal sanctions on Iermolaiev after an investigation by the country’s SBU security agency and that it said he continued to trade alcohol in occupied Crimea and paid millions of dollars in taxes to the Russian treasury.

“An assassination attempt against a Ukrainian-born tycoon has sparked a large manhunt across Monaco and France, with authorities saying three people were injured on Monday when a parcel bomb went off in a residential building in the wealthy city-state”

CNN

The Guardian also reported that Iermolaiev’s son, Artur, was detained in Cyprus at the request of Interpol and subsequently extradited to Estonia, where he was accused of creating a criminal organisation engaged in telephone fraud.

CNN said the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was in touch with local authorities through its embassy in France, and it reported that diplomats were at the scene providing assistance.

The New York Post said authorities described the three as “apparently returning home” together on the night of the attack, while Informat.ro said the General Prosecutor's Office considered it “probably a terrorist attack” but Monegasque Minister of State Christophe Mirmand called for “caution regarding the legal qualification of the facts.”

The Guardian added that the unanswered question was why someone wanted to kill Iermolaiev, and it said a more plausible explanation might be claims that the oligarch was connected to an alleged call centre scam, describing the attack as “It looks like something very, very personal.”