The motivation for Monday’s bombing attempt on a Ukrainian-born businessman in Monaco remains unclear, as residents of the affluent city-state contend with their abruptly disrupted feeling of security.
Authorities could not promptly identify the victims; however, CNN’s French affiliate BFMTV said that Vadym Yermolaiev was the intended target of the bombing on Monday evening and sustained injuries from the explosion.
Yermolaiev amassed his wealth in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro during the tumultuous post-Soviet era. He mostly concentrated on real estate and was, at one time, considered among the wealthiest Ukrainians.
Prior to the war, Dnipro was renowned as a vibrant hub of affluence and opulence, where the distinction between local authority and criminal factions was often ambiguous. The city is recognized for its flourishing Jewish community, of which Yermolaiev was a notable and engaged member.
Yermolaiev departed his native country and relinquished his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019. Publicly available documentation indicates that the 58-year-old is now a citizen of Cyprus, having previously resided in Monaco.
Local authorities declined to publicly disclose the identities of the victims, stating only that the adult male victim had been a resident of Monaco since at least 2021. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that, according to local emergency services, the three individuals injured in the explosion were members of a family of Ukrainian descent.
Yermolaiev and two others—a mother and a child—sustained critical injuries from a bomb placed at Yermolaiev’s apartment by an unidentified assailant shortly before detonation.
An assault so uncommon and egregious that it sent the elite coastal city-state into a condition of shock. Christophe Mirmand, Monaco’s Minister of State, stated that an attack of this nature had never occurred there previously.
The identities of the woman and the child remain undisclosed. Yermolaiev’s spouse informed the Ukrainian state television channel Suspilne on Tuesday that she was not there at the residence during the assault and sustained no injuries.
The affluent coastal city hosts numerous millionaires and celebrities. Monaco boasts a near absence of criminal activity, a high regard for privacy rights, and an exceptionally favorable tax system.
Forbes magazine’s Ukrainian edition reported that Yermolaiev relinquished his Ukrainian citizenship in pursuit of “international protection.”
Forbes quoted him as saying, “The Ukrainian court system is, to put it mildly, flawed, and the tax system lacks objectivity.”
His son is a convicted felon for fraud
The rationale for the attempted assassination remains ambiguous. Yermolaiev lacks any discernible connections to the conflict in Ukraine. In December 2023, he was sanctioned by Kyiv for conducting business in Russian-occupied Crimea, a claim he refuted in an interview with Ukrainian media.
Artur Yermolayev, the son of Yermolaiev, is a prominent individual within the Ukrainian criminal underworld.
He was apprehended in Cyprus on charges of being the ringleader of an extensive fraud operation. He was subsequently deported to Estonia, where he was convicted of fraud in April.
Court documents reveal that Artur Yermolayev admitted guilt in orchestrating a telephone scam that, masquerading as fraudulent investment possibilities, defrauded victims across several European nations of around 100 million euros ($114 million) from 2019 to 2022. In Estonia, Yermolayev and his collaborators embezzled 5.4 million euros ($6.16 million) from individuals.
He received a five-year prison term but negotiated a bargain that resulted in his deportation from Estonia after serving only four months. He remitted a penalty of 8.5 million euros together with expenses related to his extradition to Estonia. Estonian media reports that he was extradited to Israel.
