Monaco, France probe blast targeting Ukrainian tycoon Yermolayev

Police in Monaco and France ​have launched an investigation into the attempted assassination of Ukrainian-born ​businessman Vadym ​Yermolayev​.

A manhunt ​is underway for a suspect believed to have detonated a makeshift bomb​, which injured several people Monday night in the wealthy ​Principality of Monaco.

The blast affected Yermolaiev, his partner, and teen son, French media reported. ​​Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the wounded were Ukrainian nationals and members of one family.

The prosecutor’s office in Monaco disclosed that law enforcement detained a foreign national within the principality, but he was later released. No charges have been announced.

Prosecutor General Stéphane Thibault said Wednesday that an active cross-border pursuit continues across Monaco, with the support of the French authorities.

“Examination of all the evidence is ongoing,” the official hinted, with a special focus on “the explosive device and the identification of the person who placed it at the scene.”

Thibault, however, confirmed that one victim with less severe injuries has been interviewed in France, but the other two victims “are not in a condition to be questioned.”

Monaco’s Prince Albert II ​called the incident a ​”heinous crime​” and ​”a shock to the entire Monegasque community​.” The French Interior Minister​’s office said police were working​ to ​locate the ​culprit.

According to France’s Le Figaro newspaper, investigators are considering a possible involvement of Ukraine’s Security Service in the attack on Yermolayev.

The tycoon, who relocated to Monaco in 2021, was placed under Ukrainian sanctions for his business dealings in Crimea in 2023 after the peninsula was annexed by Russia.