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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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A search is underway for the suspect in a parcel bomb attack in Monaco that seriously injured a Ukrainian tycoon sanctioned by Kyiv in an incident that has shocked the principality.
Monaco's public prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said the explosion took place at 9 p.m. Monday at an apartment building on Rue Révérend Père Louis Frolla.
Authorities have not released the victims' names, but French newspaper Le Figaro reported that Vadym Yermolaiev, a businessman from the Ukrainian city of Dnipro and his wife and teenage son, were injured in the attack. This was also reported by Ukrainska Pravda, citing two sources in the business sector.
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Surveillance cameras captured an unidentified man leaving a bag in the building’s entrance before fleeing and leaving the device thought to be packed with bolts and buckshot to detonate. Authorities said the suspect crossed the border on foot toward the French town of Beausoleil.
An attempted murder investigation has been launched, suggesting that authorities believe he had been deliberately targeted in what Monaco Minister of State Christophe Mirmand said was the first such incident in Monaco’s history.
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Who Is Vadym Yermolaiev?
In 2020, Forbes named Yermolaiev the 45th-richest Ukrainian, with a fortune of $230 million. He founded the Alef Group with interests in real estate, construction, agriculture, logistics, and alcohol production. According to recent reports, he later acquired Cypriot citizenship and has been living in Monaco.
Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske reported that although Yermolaiev has said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017 for a Cypriot passport, he still runs a business in Ukraine. In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions on Yermolaiev and companies linked to him.
It was alleged that alcohol firms associated with him were re-registered under Russian law after Moscow's annexation of Crimea and that he continued operating on the peninsula and paid taxes into Russia’s budget, independent Russian outlet Meduza reported. He has denied the allegations.
A father of four, he was described as part of the "Monaco battalion," a nickname Ukrainian secret services gave to rich Ukrainian expatriates who went to the Côte d'Azur during Russia’s invasion.
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According to the newspaper Nice-Matin, he was a co-owner of the Estonian bank Versobank, which was suspended in 2018 by the European Central Bank for violating anti-money-laundering legislation. France Info said that he lived a luxurious lifestyle, citing images from Ukrainska Pravda of him in front of his Bentley on the Place du Casino in Monte-Carlo.
In 2024, Hromadske reported that Yermolaiev had transferred some of his assets to his 21-year-old daughter Sofiya, who lives in Cyprus and London.
Yermolaiev’s son, Artur, was detained in Cyprus in 2025 and extradited to Estonia, where he faced charges of organizing a criminal group that operated fraudulent call centers in Ukraine, offering fake investment opportunities and earning more than 100 million euros ($114 million) between 2019 and 2022, of which 5.4 million euros came from Estonian residents.
Artur Yermolaiev reached a plea deal, received a suspended sentence and paid an 8.5 million euro fine before leaving Estonia.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Frances Mao and Sam Wilson.
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