Monaco bomb footage released in attack on sanctioned Ukrainian tycoon

Ukrainian authorities have released restored CCTV footage showing the moment a hooded figure dropped an explosive backpack outside the Monaco home of property tycoon Vadym Iermolaiev in early June. The blast injured Iermolaiev, a 13-year-old boy, and a woman who subsequently had her legs amputated. The release comes as investigators pursue an attempted murder case that has already seen one suspect found shot dead near Kyiv.

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) managed to recover the deleted video from a surveillance camera the attackers had installed to confirm the hit. “Thanks to the professional work of specialists from the Security Service of Ukraine, it was possible to restore one of the key pieces of evidence that the suspects tried to destroy,” Kravchenko said on Telegram. The footage shows a purple flash erupting as Iermolaiev approached the property with two companions.

The attack draws attention to the precarious position of wealthy Ukrainians who relocated their assets and lives to Western Europe following Russia’s full-scale invasion. Iermolaiev is among a cohort of prominent business figures who fled the country, establishing residences in European financial hubs like Monaco. For investors and authorities, the incident raises pressing questions about the reach of cross-border organized crime and the potential for wartime business disputes to turn violent on European soil.

Iermolaiev’s profile adds complexity to the case. President Volodymyr Zelensky sanctioned the tycoon in 2023 for a decade over alleged ties to his alcohol business operations in Russian-occupied Crimea. Iermolaiev has fiercely denied the allegations, calling them “completely surreal,” and argued that Russia actually seized his grape-growing and cognac business when it annexed the peninsula in 2014.

“We lost everything,” Iermolaiev said, noting that he has hired a legal team to have the sanctions lifted. The unresolved sanctions, combined with the violent attempt on his life, illustrate the tangled legal and security landscape for Ukrainian capital in Europe. It remains unclear whether the bombing was politically motivated, tied to his contested business interests in Crimea, or related to other corporate disputes.

Law enforcement is still working to untangle the plot. The primary suspect, 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska, was found shot dead near Kyiv on July 6. Meanwhile, Iermolaiev’s wife, Anna, clarified that she was not the woman injured in the blast, telling Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne that the family is under severe stress but cooperating with investigators. Kravchenko pledged that no evidence would be left unexamined as prosecutors work to establish the role of every person involved.