Ukrainian oligarch wounded in Monaco blast as police probe ‘deliberate’ attack

NICE, June 30 — A blast from an explosive device wounded Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev and two others in Monaco yesterday, authorities said, in a “deliberate” act unprecedented in the principality.

Three people including a teenager were wounded in the explosion that struck around 9pm local time (1900 GMT) in a residential building on a street along the border with France.

A source close to the investigation who asked not to be named told AFP that one of those wounded was Yermolaiev.

Monaco’s Minister of State Christophe Mirmand initially told AFP the blast appeared to be “an attack”, but later dropped that term, describing it as a “deliberate explosion”.

Monaco’s Prince Albert II described the incident as a “heinous crime” and “a shock to the entire Monegasque community”.

An aide to France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police were working “to find the perpetrator, who has fled”.

An AFP photographer at the scene saw a heavy police presence with access to the area cordoned off, while a helicopter circled overhead.

Public prosecutor Stephane Thibault said a suspect had left a bag or package in the building’s lobby before leaving.

Nothing appeared for the moment to indicate why the building might have been targeted, he said.

A couple in their 50s or 60s wounded in the blast were in life-threatening conditions, while a 13-year-old who was “very likely related to the couple” suffered less serious injuries, Mirmand said, without disclosing their identities.

Emergency services treated four other people for shock and cuts from windows shattered in the blast.

The explosive device apparently contained bolts and buckshot, Mirmand said.

“This is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality,” he said.

Yermolaiev, a multi-millionaire Monaco resident, has been subject to sanctions from Kyiv since December 2023, which Ukrainian security services reportedly said stemmed from his alcohol business activity in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Mirmand said the prosecutor would give a news briefing today. — AFP