JUNE 30, 2026
Explosion in Monaco injures three, including Ukrainian tycoon; suspect at large in France
An explosive device detonated at the entrance of a residential building in Monaco around 9 p.m. on Monday, injuring three people — two adults and a child — who were returning home. Monaco's chief prosecutor Stéphane Thibault confirmed an attempted murder investigation is open, that the suspect acted alone and fled on foot into neighboring France, and that the attack is not being classified as terrorism. Media reports identified one of the injured as Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolaiev.
Monaco's prosecutor general, Stéphane Thibault, addressed reporters on Tuesday describing the incident as an "attempted assassination," while ruling out a terrorism motive. The explosion occurred as three people — identified by Monaco's minister of state, Christophe Mirmand, as a man, a woman, and a 13-year-old child who are "regular" residents — crossed the threshold of their apartment building near the French border. The woman was taken to a hospital in Nice in life-threatening condition; the man's condition is no longer life-threatening and the child's life is not in danger, Thibault said.
Surveillance footage reviewed by authorities showed the suspect had circled the area multiple times before the blast, apparently waiting for the victims to arrive. Immediately after the explosion, the suspect fled on foot using stairs to reach Beausoleil, a French town bordering Monaco. A CCTV image published by French media showed a person wearing a black jacket, light-colored pants, white shoes, and a black hat partly obscuring their face. Thibault said the motive remains unclear and authorities had not yet been able to speak with the victims.
Media reports, including from CNN's French affiliate BFMTV and Ukrainian news site Ukrainska Pravda, identified the target as Vadym Yermolaiev, a 58-year-old businessman originally from Dnipro, Ukraine, who built his fortune through the Alef Group — a holding company with interests in real estate, manufacturing, and agriculture. Yermolaiev told Forbes Ukraine he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a Cypriot citizen, giving 2017 and 2019 as the year in different accounts across sources. In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on Yermolaiev as part of a broader package targeting individuals said to have business links to Russia or Russian-occupied territories; Yermolaiev denied the Crimea-related allegations in Ukrainian media. Local Monaco authorities declined to publicly confirm the identities of the victims; the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the injured were members of "a family of Ukrainian origin," according to CNN.