A Ukrainian millionaire, Vadym Yermolaiev, who was the target of a bombing incident in Monaco, has accused Ukraine’s military intelligence agency of orchestrating the attack. The explosion, caused by a homemade bomb filled with bolts and pellets, occurred at the Sun Palace apartment building where Yermolaiev resided with his partner and their 13-year-old son. All three individuals sustained serious injuries, with Yermolaiev’s partner, Anna Nasobina, reportedly losing her legs in the blast.
In a recent statement released by his legal team, Yermolaiev alleged that officers from Ukraine’s main intelligence directorate, commonly known as HUR, were directly involved in the attempted assassination. Despite not presenting concrete evidence to support his claim, Yermolaiev suggested that former or current senior HUR officials were aware of the plot.
The primary suspect in the bombing, Anastasiia Berezovska, was discovered dead near Kyiv, with investigators determining that she had been shot. Subsequently, a serving officer from Ukrainian military intelligence, Vladyslav Reut, along with co-defendant Vitalii Zhykovych from SBU, Ukraine’s internal security agency, were charged with Berezovska’s murder. Both individuals have denied the accusations, with Reut initially confessing to the killing but later retracting his statement and pointing the blame at Zhykovych.
Yermolaiev, listed as the 39th wealthiest Ukrainian by Forbes in 2020, amassed a fortune of £172 million from property ventures. He faced sanctions from Kyiv in 2023 due to his business interests in wine and alcohol in Russia-occupied Crimea. In his statement, Yermolaiev described the brutal attack as an attempt to kill all three victims without regard for age or gender, emphasizing the severe injuries sustained by his partner and son.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for HUR, refuted the allegations made by Yermolaiev, labeling them as “subjective political statements” and expressing concerns that they could hinder the blast investigation.
