Ukrainian services may be behind the attack in Monaco against Ukrainian oligarch Vadim Ermolayev, the French newspaper Le Figaro reported, citing its own sources in the investigation.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) sent a “warning” to him rather than trying to actually kill him, the publication said.
Investigators are exploring several possible escape routes, with the main theory suggesting that the fugitive fled to Italy. Law enforcement officials declined to comment on whether the suspect acted on orders or received help during his escape, noting that his identity has not been definitively established.
Vadim Ermolayev was injured in an explosion on Monday night in an apartment building in Monaco.
Yermolaev is one of the richest Ukrainians, the founder of the Alef corporation, which is engaged in agriculture, construction, real estate, transportation, as well as the production of wine and luxury alcoholic beverages. In 2019, he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship, and since 2023 he has been under Ukrainian sanctions because of his business in the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula.
Fifty-eight-year-old Yermolaev received Cypriot citizenship in 2010 and has lived in Monaco since at least 2021. He made his fortune in Dnipro (formerly Dnepropetrovsk) - a large industrial and university city in Ukraine, having successfully developed in the construction sector.
Yermolaev is among the many businessmen in the post-Soviet space who quickly amassed wealth, taking advantage of the chaotic collapse of the USSR in 1991, points out AFP.
In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions on Yermolayev for a period of ten years. Kiev accuses him of continuing to trade in wine and spirits in Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and thus paying taxes to the Russian state during the war against Ukraine.
According to preliminary data from the investigation, on Monday evening an unknown man left a backpack with an explosive device in the lobby of the building occupied by Yermolayev and his family, and then hid. The bomb exploded when the family entered the building.
The authorities in Monaco have not yet officially announced the identities of any of the victims, but said that they were a family and appeared to have been deliberately targeted.
Media reports said that Ukrainian construction oligarch Vadim Yermolayev was among the victims. He said that renounced his Ukrainian citizenship nearly a decade ago and was subject to Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 over ties to Russia. A woman and a child were also injured.
In a statement, prosecutors called the blast an attempted murder and said authorities in neighboring France were assisting in the investigation.