Interpol has issued a Red Notice for a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman named as the main suspect in a parcel-bomb attack in Monaco that wounded a sanctioned Ukrainian-born businessman, his partner and son, and two bystanders, Monegasque authorities said on Friday.
The suspect, identified as Anastasiia Berezovska, is wanted on charges of attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy, according to the notice posted on Interpol's website and reported by Al Jazeera and CBC News. She remains at large.
The device detonated on Monday, June 30, at the entrance of an apartment building in the principality, according to Al Jazeera, which reported that the businessman's partner was left in critical condition. Monaco's Minister of State, Christophe Mirmand, described it as the first attack of its kind in the principality's history, Newsweek reported.
Who was targeted
The wounded tycoon, Vadym Yermolaiev, originally from the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, was named by Forbes in 2020 as the 45th-richest Ukrainian, with an estimated fortune of $230 million, and founded the Alef Group, with interests spanning real estate, construction, agriculture, logistics and alcohol production, according to Al Jazeera. He has said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship nearly a decade ago.
In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions on Yermolaiev and companies linked to him over ties to Russia, Al Jazeera reported. The outlet said Ukrainian security services had described him as part of the "Monaco battalion" — wealthy Ukrainian expatriates who went to the Cote d'Azur during Russia's invasion. Authorities have not publicly stated a motive for the attack.
How the investigation unfolded
Investigators initially reviewed footage showing what appeared to be a heavily built man in a dark long-sleeved top, light shorts and a black bucket hat, according to Al Jazeera. A wider review of CCTV from previous days and a witness account redirected the inquiry toward a woman disguised as a man. Investigators said they identified a rented vehicle fitted with German licence plates and traced a route from France into Italy and on across several European countries.
Deputy Prosecutor Morgan Raymond said the "relative sophistication of the explosive device and the modus operandi suggest that the person who planted the device did not act alone," as quoted by Al Jazeera. The device was reportedly packed with bolts and buckshot, according to reporting cited by Newsweek.
The wider context
Authorities have not suggested who was behind the attack. It comes amid warnings from Western intelligence agencies about a rise in violence in Europe tied to the war in Ukraine: three intelligence officials told the Associated Press in May that a Russia-linked campaign of targeted killings had, in their assessment, intensified since 2022. No authority has publicly connected the Monaco bombing to that campaign, and the named suspect is Ukrainian.
Monaco police continue to search for Berezovska and, based on the prosecutor's assessment, any possible accomplices. According to Interpol, a Red Notice is a request to law-enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition; it is not an international arrest warrant, and each country decides what legal weight to give it.