Monaco explosion that targeted Ukrainian oligarch investigated as 'attempted assassination'
Massive manhunt underway after oligarch Vadim Ermolaev said to be target of attack
Monaco police have opened an investigation into the attempted assassination of a Ukrainian oligarch as the prosecutor declared that an explosion that rocked the city on Monday evening was not a "terrorist attack".
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A manhunt is underway to identify and find the suspect who planted the "parcel bomb" inside the lobby of a building on Rue du Révérend Père Louis Frolla.
French and Ukrainian media said the target of the attack was Vadym Yermolaiev, who was once a real estate developer in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. He left Ukraine several years ago, renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a citizen of Cyprus.
Yermolaiev was placed under Ukrainian sanctions in December 2023, which Ukrainian media say was for doing business in Russian-occupied Crimea. In an interview with Ukrainian media RBC-Ukraine in 2024, Yermolaiev denied that he owned or ran any business in Crimea.
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"This is not an attack that can be described as terrorist," Monaco's public prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said in an update on Tuesday. He added that there are "three immediate victims... two of whom are in a state of absolute emergency".
A lone man presented himself in front of the address where he left a package, "in the process of being identified", shortly before the three occupants of the ground floor apartment showed up at the door and the explosion.
Two other people were injured by the projection of windows.
A woman, who has not been named, was the most seriously hurt. Local newspaper Monaco Matin said part of her lower limbs were blown away by the explosion.
The man has been a Monegasque resident since at least 2021 and "to our knowledge, he is not wanted by a foreign authority".
The suspect is believed to have fled to France, Christophe Mirmand, minister of state of Monaco, said on Tuesday.
CCTV shows the suspect fleeing towards the town of Beausoleil, just across the border in France.
Prosecutors said the backpack bomb contained bolts and buckshot.
The Monegasque government said the area was cordoned off and the six other unoccupied flats inside the building were secured.
“This is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality,” Mr Mirmand said.
Le Figaro said video surveillance images showed a man dropping a backpack at the entrance of the residential building shortly before the explosion.
Attentat à Monaco plusieurs sacs déposés à l’endroit de l’explosion 🇲🇨 #monaco #courage #force pic.twitter.com/uYkrNjE78S
— Balasse Florian (@Florian361) June 29, 2026
Four additional people were taken to Princess Grace Hospital, including two with cuts from windows that shattered and two others who needed treatment for shock, the Monegasque government said.
Prince Albert II, the principality’s monarch, condemned the explosion as a “heinous act” and “a shock to the entire Monegasque community”.
Praising the response of Monegasque and French emergency services, he added: “We trust in [the authorities] to quickly bring to light the circumstances of this tragedy, identify those responsible and provide all of the answers, at every level.
“More than ever, the principality of Monaco will remain united and determined in the face of violence and crime. The security of our community has always been a priority; it will remain that way more than ever, regardless of the threats.”
Eric Ciotti, the Right-wing mayor of nearby Nice, France, wrote on X: “The attack committed this evening is a tragedy for Monaco.”