Monaco Bomb Suspect Anastasiia Berezovska Found Shot Dead Near Kyiv

A parcel bomb exploded in the entrance hall of an apartment building in Monaco on 29 June 2026, injuring Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner, and his son.

Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman, was identified as the suspect who planted the bomb and subsequently became the subject of an Interpol Red Notice issued on charges of attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy.

Monaco's deputy prosecutor said Berezovska had spent days casing out the residence, was disguised as a man during the attack, fled the principality on foot into France, then traveled by car through Italy and other European countries to Germany. German authorities searched an apartment rented by Berezovska in Frankfurt, Germany.

Berezovska returned to Ukraine on 1 July, two days after the Monaco attack.

Berezovska's body was found near Kyiv late on Monday 7 July, with gunshot wounds to the head; pistol cartridges were found nearby. Ukraine's prosecutor general's office announced the discovery and subsequent detentions on Tuesday 8 July.

Two men were detained and charged in connection with Berezovska's murder: a serving officer of Ukraine's military intelligence service (HUR/Main Directorate of Intelligence) and a former law enforcement officer. The HUR officer confessed to killing Berezovska together with the other suspect after she arrived in Ukraine.

The two men transferred funds repeatedly to Berezovska's cryptocurrency and bank accounts, leading investigators to suspect them as accomplices in the Monaco bombing as well.

Ukrainian authorities announced they had shared all information about the case with Monaco authorities and were working to identify others who ordered or participated in the Monaco attack.

Vadym Yermolaiev is a Ukrainian-born property developer who took Cypriot citizenship — renouncing Ukrainian citizenship in 2019 — and has been living in Monaco.

Center and center-left outlets report that the HUR officer stated he had not informed his superiors about his contacts with Berezovska, the money transfers to her, or any of his other actions, and said he had acted on his own initiative. These accounts come from Ukrainian authorities but have not been independently corroborated across the ideological spectrum.

A basement room described as resembling a torture chamber was found during a search of the former law enforcement officer's home in the Kyiv region. Center outlets France 24 and BBC reported this discovery, though these same outlets note that Ukraine's prosecutor general stated there is no evidence the basement room was connected to Berezovska's case.

The BBC reported that two suspects met Berezovska in a car on a highway in the Kyiv region, traveled a distance with her, and then killed her. This specific account of how the killing unfolded was not reported by other outlets.

The BBC also reported that two of the three people injured in the Monaco explosion were seriously injured, a level of detail not provided by other outlets covering the attack.

Deutsche Welle reported that Monaco's Prince Albert II described the bomb attack as 'an odious act,' a characterization not carried by other outlets.

Yermolaiev has been subject to sanctions imposed by the Ukrainian government since 2023, with Ukrainian media reporting the sanctions relate to his alleged business activities in Russian-occupied Crimea. Yermolaiev denies doing business in Crimea.

Forbes magazine named Yermolaiev the 39th richest Ukrainian in 2020 with a reported fortune of $230 million, according to the BBC.