Main Suspect in Monaco Bombing Found Dead in Ukraine

A woman suspected of carrying ​out a bomb attack in Monaco last week that seriously injured a Ukrainian-born businessman has been found ‌dead in Ukraine, the country’s prosecutor general’s office said on July 7.

Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, was found with “gunshot wounds to the head,” and pistol cartridges nearby, the Ukrainian Office of the Attorney General said in a statement on Telegram.

Berezovska was named as the chief suspect in an Interpol Red Notice in July. It said she was Ukrainian, spoke German, and was wanted by Monegasque authorities for attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy.

Ukrainian prosecutors said they had detained an employee of Kyiv’s military intelligence service, together with another suspect.

“According to law enforcement officials, the suspect arrived in Ukraine on July 1, 2026. As a result of investigative, search, and operational measures, her circle of contacts and travel routes were established,” prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that investigations had established that after returning to Ukraine, Berezovska had “communicated with her family and two men,” one of whom was a former law enforcement officer and the other a current employee of the Ukrainian Military Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

These two men had repeatedly made transfers to Berezovska’s cryptocurrency and bank accounts, prosecutors said, and, as a result, were being investigated for possible involvement in the Monaco bombing, which injured Vadym Iermolaiev, a property developer from Dnipro in central Ukraine; his wife; and his 13-year-old child.

During the investigation, according to the statement, the intelligence service employee said that he had killed Berezovska, with the aid of another, and that he had not informed any of his superiors about his contact with her.

The prosecutors also said that “during a search of the former law enforcement officer’s home, a basement room similar to a torture chamber was discovered.”

“Both individuals involved have been detained on suspicion of committing murder by prior conspiracy as a group,” prosecutors said.

Ukrainian prosecutors said that all information available to their law enforcement officers “has been provided to the investigative bodies of the Principality of Monaco” and that the Prosecutor General’s Office is in “close cooperation with the law enforcement agencies” in the Mediterranean nation.

Monaco deputy prosecutor Morgan Raymond said at a July 3 press conference that the suspect left a parcel in front of a building in the principality, then set off the device with a remote control when the three victims arrived on June 29, according to French news outlet Le Parisien.

She then left on foot for France, which borders Monaco on all sides except its Mediterranean coast, and, after crossing the border, fled in a car rented in Germany, driving back to Germany via several European countries, including Italy.

The suspect had scouted the area days before the attack, on most occasions wearing similar clothing to the clothing the suspect wore on the day of the attack. On one of those days, her long, dark hair was visible, Raymond said, adding that this is what allowed investigators to know the suspect “was a woman who disguised herself as a man.”

Raymond added that Monegasque authorities are considering the possibility of accomplices or a mastermind, saying that the “relative sophistication of the explosive device and the modus operandi seem to indicate that the person who planted the explosive device did not act alone.”

German criminal police issued a statement the same day saying they had searched a rented flat in Frankfurt and a car belonging to a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman, without naming her, as part of the investigation.

“Evidence was secured which will be handed over to the Monegasque authorities,” they said, adding, “The wanted woman is currently on the run.”

The target of the bomb, Iermolaiev, was born in Ukraine but renounced his citizenship and now has a Cypriot passport.

The property developer was sanctioned by Kyiv in June 2024 for allegedly selling vodka in Russian-occupied Crimea. Yermolaiev has denied ⁠doing business in Crimea.

A public relations company, Silver Eye Communications Agency, released a statement to Monaco Life confirming that Iermolaiev was targeted but rejecting media outlets’ characterization of him as an “oligarch” and the “unverified allegations” printed in numerous European newspapers.

“The use of an explosive device in an attempt on a person’s life is a barbaric act that has no place in any civilized society. The fact that Mr. Iermolaiev’s child was also injured makes this crime particularly shocking,” Silver Eye said.

“Mr. Vadym Iermolaiev is not an oligarch. He has never held political office, never controlled strategic sectors of the Ukrainian economy, never enjoyed a monopoly in any industry, and has never been part of Ukraine’s political establishment.”

Chris Summers contributed to this report.