Police in Monaco are searching for a suspected bomber after a Ukrainian-born business tycoon, his wife and their child were injured in an unprecedented attack that has shaken the normally ultra-safe principality.
The Monaco government said a suspect had left a parcel bomb in the lobby of a residential building that exploded shortly before 9pm on Monday, causing what officials described as a “powerful explosion”.
French media identified the victims as Vadym Iermolaiev, his wife and their 13-year-old child. Iermolaiev and his wife had been taken to hospital with serious injuries, while their child was also wounded, French authorities said.
Photographs online showed the entrance of the luxury apartment building damaged by the blast. CCTV footage showed the suspect fleeing towards the French border shortly after the explosion. French media published a video image of the alleged bomber, who was seen wearing a dark top and a bucket hat.
Prince Albert II condemned the bombing as “an odious act” and said all the principality’s security services had been mobilised.
Christophe Mirmand, Monaco’s minister of state, described the bombing as unprecedented and urged “extreme vigilance” to ensure the investigation progressed as quickly as possible.
“To my knowledge, this is the first time in history that such an act has taken place in the principality,” he told a press conference. The explosive device had apparently contained bolts and buckshot, Mirmand said.
Emergency services had treated four other people for shock and cuts from windows shattered in the blast, he added.
Originally from the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Iermolaiev founded the Alef trade and industrial corporation and became one of the region’s most influential property developers and businessmen.
Once ranked among Forbes Ukraine’s 100 richest Ukrainians, he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019 in favour of Cypriot nationality. Ukraine imposed sanctions on him in 2023, alleging he had maintained business links with Russian entities operating in Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow, including Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
Iermolaiev was not known for espousing pro-Russian views. After Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022, he said his Gulfstream G150 private jet had been destroyed in a Russian missile strike on Dnipro airport
In a 2024 interview with Forbes Ukraine, Iermolaiev said he had given up his Ukrainian citizenship because he wanted “international protection”.
“The Ukrainian judicial system, to put it mildly, is not ideal, and the tax system is not objective,” he told the magazine, explaining his decision.
The Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported that Iermolaiev had been living in Monaco since the start of the invasion.
Monday’s attack has stunned the wealthy Mediterranean enclave, where violent crime is exceptionally rare.
A resident living near the building told the French outlet Nice-Matin that the blast had sent shockwaves through the neighbourhood. “The noise was horrible … In Monaco, we’re not used to this kind of event. We’re still in shock,” they said.