{"id":11649,"date":"2026-07-01T12:35:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/11649\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:35:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:35:06","slug":"who-is-vadym-yermolaiev-the-ukrainian-tycoon-injured-in-monaco-blast-russia-ukraine-war-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/11649\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Vadym Yermolaiev, the Ukrainian tycoon injured in Monaco blast? | Russia-Ukraine war News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police in Monaco and neighbouring France have launched a manhunt<\/a> for a suspect believed to have detonated a makeshift bomb in the centre of the wealthy Mediterranean principality, seriously injuring several people, officials say.<\/p>\n

Among those caught in the blast, which occurred at 9pm (19:00 GMT) on Monday, were three Ukrainian nationals, Ukraine\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

All three are members of one family, the ministry said, citing information it received from local emergency services. It did not name them but said Kyiv was checking their citizenship.<\/p>\n

The three are believed to be the Ukrainian-born oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner and 13-year-old son, French media reported.<\/p>\n

It is understood that the woman is in a life-threatening condition while Yermolaiev and his son are believed to be less seriously injured.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s Le Figaro newspaper reported that investigators are considering the theory that Ukraine\u2019s Security Service directed the attack on Yermolaiev, one of Ukraine\u2019s wealthiest businessmen who relocated to Monaco in 2021. Yermolaiev was placed under Ukrainian sanctions for his business dealings in Crimea in 2023 after it had been annexed by Russia.<\/p>\n

According to the newspaper, the attack was likely more of a \u201cwarning\u201d than a deliberate attempt to kill him.<\/p>\n

Monaco\u2019s Prince Albert II described the incident as a \u201cheinous crime\u201d and \u201ca shock to the entire Monegasque community\u201d.<\/p>\n

An aide to French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police were working \u201cto find the perpetrator, who has fled\u201d.<\/p>\n

The principality, which is known for its casinos, luxury yachts, tight security and the luxury lifestyle of its super-rich residents, is surrounded by the Mediterranean on one side and France on the other, and there are no border checks between the two countries.<\/p>\n

\"Monaco\"Members of a bomb disposal team work on June 30, 2026, at the site of an alleged attack involving an explosive device in the lobby of a residential building in Monaco that reportedly injured a Ukrainian oligarch, his son and partner [Valery Hache\/AFP]What happened in Monaco?<\/p>\n

A powerful blast took place at the entrance of a residential building in central Monaco on Monday night after a man was seen leaving a package there, Monaco\u2019s public prosecutor, Stephane Thibault, said.<\/p>\n

Le Figaro said video surveillance images showed a man wearing a black jacket, light-coloured trousers, white shoes and a black hat that partly concealed his face dropping a backpack at the entrance of the building shortly before the explosion. Thibault told reporters on Tuesday that the suspect had acted alone before fleeing on foot and remained at large.<\/p>\n

The explosive device contained bolts and buckshot, Christophe Mirmand, minister of state for Monaco, told the French news broadcaster LCI on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

There was a heavy police presence at the scene on Tuesday, and it was cordoned off while a helicopter circled overhead, the AFP news agency reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality,\u201d Mirmand said.<\/p>\n

Three people, including a teenager, were reported to have been hurt in the explosion, the Reuters news agency reported.<\/p>\n

A source familiar with the investigation told Reuters the man wounded in the attack was Yermolaiev and the woman injured in the same attack \u2013 his partner \u2013 was badly wounded from the waist down. The woman is understood to be in a life-threatening condition while Yermolaiev was at first understood to be critical but has since stabilised in hospital.<\/p>\n

The three victims were \u201capparently returning home peacefully\u201d when the bomb exploded, according to surveillance footage, Mirmand told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were caught in the explosion as they crossed the threshold of their apartment building,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Who is Vadym Yermolaiev?<\/p>\n

Yermolaiev is a multimillionaire resident of Monaco who was placed under sanctions by Kyiv in December 2023 for continuing to operate his alcohol business in Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukrainian security services reportedly said.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said sanctions had been directed against \u201cthose who aid Russia\u2019s aggression, those who assist it and those who have chosen the disgraceful path of collaborating with the terrorist state\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yermolaiev has denied collaborating with Russia. \u201cWe tried to recover our investments [in Crimea] but to no avail,\u201d he told RBC Ukraine in 2024. \u201cBy the end of 2015, we had abandoned those efforts. The management of those companies told us they were being intimidated and pressured into reregistering under the laws of the aggressor state.\u201d He claimed he advised them not to do this. His Crimean business was ultimately seized by Russian forces in 2023.<\/p>\n

He is believed to have lived in Monaco, a microstate with a population of 38,000 people, since 2021, the year he was ranked 45th in Forbes magazine\u2019s list of the richest Ukrainians with a net worth of $220m.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the Ukrainska Pravda website published an investigation<\/a> into Ukrainian oligarchs living abroad that found Yermolaiev led a life of luxury, driving a $300,000 Bentley Flying Spur.<\/p>\n

Yermolaiev was born in Ukraine\u2019s Dnipro in 1968; founded his business, Aleg Group, in 1995; and had interests in agribusinesses, real estate, construction and the medical equipment sector, the Kyiv Independent newspaper reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017 and obtained Cypriot nationality in 2019, according to media reports.<\/p>\n

In a 2024 interview with Forbes Ukraine, Yermolaiev said he had given up his Ukrainian citizenship because he wanted \u201cinternational protection\u201d. Monaco is considered to be one of the safest places in the world with an extensive surveillance network of thousands of security cameras covering most public spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ukrainian judicial system, to put it mildly, is not ideal, and the tax system is not objective,\u201d he told the magazine.<\/p>\n

Artem Romaniukov, the former head of Dnipro\u2019s Civic Control regulator and now a Ministry of Defence official, told the Kyiv Independent this week that Yermolaiev was considered \u201cone of the local oligarchs\u201d.<\/p>\n

He was not considered to be among the most influential people in Ukraine, however. Political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told the Kyiv Independent that Yermolaiev tried to \u201cbreak onto the national stage\u201d and \u201cclearly had some political ambitions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he never made it into the top tier of Ukraine\u2019s oligarchs,\u201d Fesenko added. \u201cI\u2019d even say he belonged to the second or third tier, not the first.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the imposition of Ukrainian sanctions against him, many of his assets were transferred to his daughter, Sofia Kononenko, according to an investigation by the Ukrainian news site Glavcom in 2025.<\/p>\n

Is there a suspect?<\/p>\n

No suspect has been named, but police in Monaco are searching for one person \u2013 a man. \u201cIn coordination with the French authorities, we are pursuing efforts to identify and apprehend him. I hope that will happen quickly, given the resources we are deploying,\u201d Thibault said.<\/p>\n

Authorities in Monaco said they had ruled out \u201cterrorism\u201d<\/a> as a motive.<\/p>\n

The suspect fled the scene on foot, crossing the border into the French town of Beausoleil. Investigators say he is believed to have headed towards Italy, about 12km (8 miles) away.<\/p>\n

While Le Figaro reported that investigators in Monaco were exploring the possibility that Ukraine\u2019s Security Service directed Monday\u2019s attack on Yermolaiev as a \u201cwarning\u201d, some analysts believe there may be other possible motives behind the explosion.<\/p>\n

In December, his son Artur was arrested in Cyprus during an investigation into fraudulent call centres in Ukraine. He was extradited to Estonia, where he received<\/a> a five-year suspended sentence, paid an 8.5-million-euro ($9.68m) fine and then left Estonia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see any political motive behind the attack\u201d on Yermolaiev, Fesenko told the Kyiv Independent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s much more likely that it was connected to the scam call centres and most likely to his son. Artur appears to have struck a deal with the investigators and likely gave up his accomplices and the other beneficiaries of the call centre network involved in criminal activity. In the end, this appears to have been retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police in Monaco and neighbouring France have launched a manhunt for a suspect believed to have detonated a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5473,551,30,1132,194,5208,82,5474,6,26],"class_list":["post-11649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-business-and-economy","tag-crime","tag-europe","tag-explainer","tag-france","tag-monaco","tag-news","tag-police","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}