Vladyslav Reut, an employee of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) accused of murdering the suspect involved in the June 29 Monaco bombing, has been detained for 60 days without bail.
Authorities on Tuesday said that two men were arrested in Ukraine for killing 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska, the woman suspected in the bombing against Ukrainian tycoon Vadym Iermolaiev, soon after her return to Ukraine.
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Local outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing Thursday’s court hearing, shared more details of the case.
The suspects are identified as Reut, born in 1992, and Vitaly Zhikovich, a former law enforcement officer born in 1976.
Prosecutors said Zhikovich recruited Reut for the killing.
The two were said to have met at a cafe in the village of Belogorodka in the Buchansky district before picking up Berezovska in a Black BMW on July 3, on the M06 “Kyiv-Chop” highway.
According to prosecutors, the three drove toward the village of Yurov as Zhikovich readied the pistol. When they arrived at the forest, Zhikovich reportedly distracted Berezovska as Reut fired in the back of her head twice.
However, Reut contested in court by saying that it was Zhikovich who fired the shots – four in total – and later took her belongings.
“He took the gun from me and, standing behind her, fired the first shot into the back of her head. She fell. He fired the second shot when he got a little closer, into the torso, into the chest,” Reut said in court, as reported by local outlet UNN.
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“He took out two more cartridges, loaded them, cocked the gun, and fired two more shots… Then he leaned over to Berezovskaya, and as I later realized, he started searching her,” he added.
The two buried the body and discarded the pistol in nearby water. Berezovska’s body was recovered on Monday, July 6, at 11 p.m. by law enforcement agents.
The motive for Berezovska’s murder remains unclear. The case did not detail the two’s potential involvement in the attempted assassination of Iermolaiev in Monaco.
Monaco bombing – what happened?
On June 29, an individual left a package in the entrance hall of an apartment building in Monaco, near the French border.
Shortly afterward, the package exploded in the hall just as Ukrainian businessman Iermolaiev and his family were entering. The explosion tore through the residential building and injured seven people.
Iermolaiev and his wife were hospitalized in serious condition, while Monaco prosecutors said their 13-year-old son’s life was not in danger.
The suspect, who was captured on CCTV wearing a black fisherman’s hat, was initially believed to be a man.
However, on Friday, July 3, European authorities identified the suspect as 39-year-old Berezovska, who had been living in Frankfurt, Germany, with Monaco confirming that it had issued an Interpol Red Notice a day prior, on Thursday, July 2.
After the explosion, Berezovska was believed to have walked to the nearby French town of Beausoleil, where she retrieved her rental car and drove through Italy to Germany, her last known country of residence, according to Morgan Raymond, Monaco’s deputy public prosecutor.
Yet, Berezovska returned to Ukraine a day before the Interpol Red Notice was issued, where she was found subsequently murdered.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said Reut and Zhikovich have “repeatedly made transfers to Berezovska’s crypto and bank accounts,” with Berezovska contacting the two upon her return to Ukraine.
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