Target of Monaco bomb blames attack on Ukrainian spy agency

The Ukrainian businessman who survived an assassination attempt in Monaco has accused Ukraine’s military intelligence agency of organising the attack.

In his first public statement since the bombing that shook the wealthy principality, Vadym Iermolaiev alleged that serving and former officers of the GUR military intelligence agency were behind the attempted killing, which left him injured but his partner critically wounded.

“Based on the investigative evidence available to us, we have no doubt that serving officers of the main intelligence directorate of the ministry of defence of Ukraine, commonly known as the GUR, were directly involved in this attempted assassination,” Iermolaiev said in a statement published by his lawyers.

French investigators have identified the suspected bomber as Anastasiia Berezovska, accusing the Ukrainian national of planting an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent. The bomb detonated as Iermolaiev emerged from a building with his partner and their 13-year-old son.

Days after the attack, Berezovska was found dead near Kyiv. Ukrainian authorities have arrested two suspects over her killing: Vladyslav Reut, an officer with the GUR, and Oleksandr Zhykovych, a former law enforcement officer.

Appearing in a Kyiv court last Thursday, Reut claimed Zhykovych was responsible for Berezovska’s murder. According to prosecutors, the pair forced her at gunpoint into a car before taking her to a forest near the village of Yuriv, about 40 miles (60km) west of the capital, where she was killed.

Ukrainian prosecutors have sought to portray the case as the actions of a rogue intelligence officer, alleging that Reut concealed his contacts with Berezovska and acted without the knowledge or authorisation of the agency’s leadership.

Iermolaiev rejected that account, saying in his statement: “According to the evidence currently available, the conspiracy extended beyond the direct perpetrators and organisers to include serving GUR officers connected to them, including individuals close to the agency’s current and former leadership.”

Iermolaiev said the explosion “was powerful enough to tear apart steel railings and destroy the stone steps outside our home. This was not a warning. It was an attempt to kill not only me, but my family as well.”

He said his partner, Anna, had sustained “catastrophic and irreversible injuries”, while their son was left with burns, fractures and other serious injuries. “I remain in intensive care and am only now beginning the long process of recovery,” he added.

The case is an embarrassment for Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and risks straining relations with European partners if the allegations of GUR involvement and direct knowledge gain further credibility. The incident comes at a politically sensitive moment for the Ukrainian president, who is facing scrutiny over his decision to dismiss his widely respected defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov.

The motive behind the attempted killing remains unclear. In 2023, Ukraine imposed sanctions on Iermolaiev, one of the country’s richest businessmen with a fortune estimated by Forbes at $220m (£164m). Kyiv accused him of continuing to trade alcohol in Russian-occupied Crimea and of paying millions of dollars in taxes to the Russian treasury.

Ukraine has carried out numerous lethal operations involving explosive devices against senior Russian military officers and Kremlin-backed Ukrainian officials inside Russia, but there is no precedent for such an attack on European territory. Iermolaiev was not known for espousing pro-Russian views or publicly aligning himself with the Kremlin.

Another theory is that the bombing was linked to organised crime, with members of Ukraine’s military intelligence recruited to carry out a contract killing. Iermolaiev’s adult son, Artur, has been accused by Ukrainian authorities of creating a criminal organisation involved in large-scale telephone fraud in his father’s home city of Dnipro. Such phone scam networks have long been associated with organised crime groups, although there is no evidence publicly linking those allegations to the Monaco bombing.