A powerful explosion tore through a residential building in Monaco on Monday, June 29, injuring seven people, including Ukrainian businessman Vadym Iermolaiev and his family, French media reported.
According to Le Figaro, the blast occurred at around 9:15 p.m. local time on Rue Révérend Père Louis Frolla, after an unidentified man was seen on surveillance footage leaving a backpack at the entrance of the building before fleeing toward the nearby French town of Beausoleil.
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The device detonated as residents were entering the building.
French broadcaster BFMTV reported that among the injured are Iermolaiev, his wife, and their 13-year-old son. The businessman and his wife were hospitalized in serious condition, while Monaco prosecutors said the teenager’s life is not in danger.
Monaco government chief Christophe Mirmand said authorities are treating the incident as a possible terrorist attack, calling it “the first such case in the history of the principality.”
Preliminary findings suggest the explosive device was packed with bolts and metal pellets to maximize damage. Police are currently searching for the suspect who left the backpack at the scene.
Iermolaiev is the founder of the Dnipro-based industrial and trading group Alef and a long-time figure on Forbes’ list of Ukraine’s wealthiest individuals. His fortune was estimated at $220 million in 2021.
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He renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019 and later obtained Cypriot nationality.
In 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed a 10-year sanctions package against Iermolaiev over allegations tied to his alcohol business operations in Russian-occupied Crimea, where his companies reportedly paid taxes to Moscow.
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