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Police in Monaco and France have launched an investigation into the attempted assassination of Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolayev.
A manhunt is underway for a suspect believed to have detonated a makeshift bomb, which injured several people Monday night in the wealthy Principality of Monaco.
The blast affected Yermolaiev, his partner, and teen son, French media reported. Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the wounded were Ukrainian nationals and members of one family.
The prosecutor’s office in Monaco disclosed that law enforcement detained a foreign national within the principality, but he was later released. No charges have been announced.
Prosecutor General Stéphane Thibault said Wednesday that an active cross-border pursuit continues across Monaco, with the support of the French authorities.
“Examination of all the evidence is ongoing,” the official hinted, with a special focus on “the explosive device and the identification of the person who placed it at the scene.”
Thibault, however, confirmed that one victim with less severe injuries has been interviewed in France, but the other two victims “are not in a condition to be questioned.”
Monaco’s Prince Albert II called the incident a ”heinous crime” and ”a shock to the entire Monegasque community.” The French Interior Minister’s office said police were working to locate the culprit.
According to France’s Le Figaro newspaper, investigators are considering a possible involvement of Ukraine’s Security Service in the attack on Yermolayev.
The tycoon, who relocated to Monaco in 2021, was placed under Ukrainian sanctions for his business dealings in Crimea in 2023 after the peninsula was annexed by Russia.
President Vladimir Putin denounced the latest European Union sanctions on Sunday, boasting that Russia has enough resources to weather the storm.
The premier delivered a speech in Moscow at the United Russia Party’s 23rd Congress, attended by hundreds of delegates, politicians, and guests.
He condemned Ukraine’s “targeted attacks on civilians and civilian facilities,” and the “recruitment of renegades within our country” to carry out sabotage and terrorist attacks.
The President accused Western countries of turning a blind eye to many actions against Russia, and instead “imposing new unlawful sanctions against us.”
“Russia is confidently repelling any attempts to deter our progress,” he said. “We have sufficient resources, means, and political will. Nobody should doubt that.”
The new EU sanctions, announced last week, will remain in effect for one year. The alliance has adopted 20 packages of sanctions since the full-scale war started in February 2022.
Putin emphasized that the “unprecedented pressure from the Western elites” was due to the inability to collectively defeat the Russian federation on the battlefield.
“Their attempts to destabilise the political situation and sow internal unrest are failing too,” he noted. “They keep encouraging Kiev, which they have chosen as a battering ram in their struggle.”
