A large-scale manhunt is currently underway across Monaco and France following an assassination attempt against a Ukrainian-born tycoon. Authorities confirmed that three people sustained injuries on Monday after a parcel bomb detonated inside a residential building within the affluent city-state.
CNN’s French affiliate, BFMTV, identified the target of the explosion as Vadym Yermolaiev, a businessman who departed his home country and relinquished his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019. While local officials declined to publicly name the victims, they noted that the adult male had been a Monaco resident since at least 2021. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that local emergency services reported the three injured individuals were members of a family of Ukrainian origin.
Monaco’s Prosecutor General, Stéphane Thibault, officially classified the incident as an “attempted assassination” during a Tuesday press conference, while simultaneously ruling out terrorism as a motive. Thibault explained that an unidentified suspect placed a parcel bomb inside the residential building just before 9 p.m. on Monday. The device exploded shortly thereafter when three residents—two adults and a child—arrived at their ground-floor apartment. All three were transported to a hospital in Nice, France, for treatment. Additionally, two other people were wounded by glass debris on the street outside.
Yermolaiev, 58, built his fortune through real estate in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro during the post-Soviet era. Public records indicate he is now a citizen of Cyprus. He previously told Forbes that he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship to seek “international protection,” citing issues with the Ukrainian judicial and tax systems. While his exact motive remains unclear, Yermolaiev was sanctioned by Kyiv in December 2023 for business dealings in Russian-occupied Crimea, a claim he has denied. His son, Artur Yermolayev, was recently sentenced in Estonia to five years in prison for his role in a 100-million-euro investment fraud scheme.
Prosecutor Thibault stated that authorities have not yet interviewed the victims. While one adult is reportedly no longer in critical condition, the other two remain in critical state. Surveillance footage captured the suspect fleeing toward Beausoleil, a French town bordering Monaco. Police have released images of the individual, who was seen wearing a black bucket hat and dark clothing.
A major security operation involving dozens of officers from both Monaco and France has been deployed, with approximately 84 police officers, 50 firefighters, and 40 French soldiers assisting in the pursuit. Prince Albert II of Monaco expressed full cooperation with French authorities, emphasizing that the state is mobilized to identify those responsible for the attack in the Mediterranean city-state, where violent crime is historically rare.
