Monaco in shock after parcel bomb injures Ukrainian-born business leader | Monaco
Monaco police are searching for the suspected bomber after a Ukrainian-born businessman, his wife and child were injured in an unprecedented attack that shook the normally extremely safe principality.
The Monaco government said a suspect left a package bomb in the lobby of a residential building shortly before 9pm on Monday, causing what authorities described as a “powerful explosion”.
French media stated that the victims were Vadym Iermolaiev, his wife and their 13-year-old child. French officials said that Iermolaiev and his wife were hospitalized with serious injuries, and their children were also injured.
Photos online showed the entrance of the luxury apartment building damaged in the explosion. CCTV footage shows the suspect fleeing towards the French border shortly after the explosion. French media published video footage of the alleged bomber wearing a dark-coloured blouse and a fisherman’s hat.
Prince Albert II condemned the bombing as a “disgusting act” and said all the principality’s security services had been mobilized.
Monaco’s Minister of State, Christophe Mirmand, described the bombing as an unprecedented incident and called for “extreme caution” to ensure the investigation progresses as quickly as possible. “To my knowledge, this is the first time in history that such an action has taken place in the principality,” he told a press conference.
The explosive apparently contained bolts and pellets, Mirmand said. Emergency services treated four other people for shock and cuts from glass shattered in the explosion, he added.
Originally from the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Iermolaiev founded the Alef trading and industrial company and became one of the region’s most influential real estate developers and businessmen.
Once ranked among Forbes Ukraine’s 100 richest Ukrainians, he awarded his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019 in favorite of Cypriot nationality. Ukraine imposed sanctions on him in 2023 for allegedly maintaining business connections with Russian organizations operating in Ukrainian territory occupied by Moscow, including Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
Iermolaiev was not known for espousing pro-Russian views. A Gulfstream G150 private jet was destroyed in a Russian missile attack on Dnipro airport, Moscow said, following a full-scale invasion in 2022.
In a 2024 interview with Forbes Ukraine, Iermolaiev said that he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship because he wanted “international protection”. “The Ukrainian judicial system is not ideal, to say the least, and the tax system is not objective either,” he told the magazine.
Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported that Iermolaiev had been living in Monaco since the beginning of the occupation.
Monday’s attack stunned the wealthy Mediterranean region, where violent crime is extremely rare.
A resident living near the building told French broadcaster Nice-Matin that the explosion sent shockwaves through the neighbourhood. “The noise was terrible… We are not used to such events in Monaco. We are still in shock,” they said.
