A bomb attack in Monaco has triggered an international manhunt, with investigators searching for a Ukrainian woman identified by a distinctive tattoo after three people — among them a Ukrainian-born tycoon — were injured in the blast and German police raided her flat.
The suspect, named in an Interpol Red Notice as 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska, is wanted by authorities in Monaco on charges of attempted murder, placing an explosive device on a public road with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy in connection with Monday’s explosion.
German investigators said they searched her rented apartment in the Frankfurt area on Thursday.
“The woman being sought is currently on the run,” they said, adding that evidence had been collected and would be turned over to authorities in Monaco.
Prince Albert II condemned the attack as a “heinous crime”
Mr Raymond said she escaped in a rental car, travelling through France and then Italy.
The chain of events indicates the suspect “may not have acted alone”, he said, confirming that the person involved was “a woman posing as a man”.
The blast has rattled Monaco, the tightly guarded microstate near Nice in southern France that serves as a haven for some of the world’s wealthiest residents. Prince Albert II has called the attack a “heinous crime”.
Tattoo on right arm
Monaco authorities have not publicly identified the victims. But according to several sources, the apparent target was 58-year-old Vadym Yermolaiev, a wealthy businessman born in Ukraine who now holds Cypriot nationality, along with his partner and his 13-year-old son.
On Monday evening, a person left a package in the entrance hall of a small apartment building near the French border.
Moments later, the device exploded in the lobby just as three residents — a couple and a child — were walking in.
The suspect, shown in images released by Monaco Public Safety director Eric Arella above, was first thought to be a man
CCTV footage showed the suspect wearing a black fisherman’s hat, and investigators initially believed the person was male.
But after reviewing surveillance images and speaking to someone who had encountered the suspect, investigators shifted their focus to a woman who is believed to have carried out several reconnaissance visits in the days leading up to the explosion, Mr Raymond said.
The suspected attacker, a woman with dark shoulder-length hair, appears in two photographs circulated by Interpol.
The notice says she has a tattoo on her right arm, “possibly” of a snake, and that she speaks German.
Convicted of fraud
The two adults suffered the most serious injuries.
A source following the case said initially that the man had sustained severe burns and the woman was in critical condition, without giving further details.
A major police deployment was sent to the area on Monday
The child was taken to Lenval children’s hospital in Nice in non-critical condition, while the two adults were admitted to Nice University Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
By Wednesday, the man was no longer in critical condition, though the woman’s condition remained unstable.
Mr Yermolaiev, who has lived in Monaco since at least 2021, has been under Ukrainian sanctions since December 2023 over his business activities in Crimea, annexed by Russia.
In 2021, the Ukrainian edition of Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $220 million, placing him 45th on the country’s rich list.
The device exploded just as the three residents were entering
A source told AFP that there were people in Dnipro — the industrial Ukrainian city where the construction magnate built his fortune — who would have lined up to gun him down.
The businessman’s 35-year-old son, Artur Yermolaiev, is also believed to have accumulated a long list of enemies.
Estonian authorities say he had been involved in phone scams since at least 2017.
Earlier this year, he was convicted of fraud in Estonia after pleading guilty to operating a fake investment phone scam from Ukraine that fraudulently obtained around €100 million between 2019 and 2022.
