KYIV, Ukraine – A Ukrainian woman wanted by authorities in Monaco over a bombing that seriously injured a Ukraine-born businessman and his family has been found dead with a gunshot wound to the head near Kyiv, Ukrainian prosecutors said Tuesday.
The woman, identified as Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice issued last week after Monaco accused her of attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said two men have been arrested in connection with Berezovska’s killing, including an officer of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as the HUR, and a former law enforcement officer. Authorities said the intelligence officer allegedly acted on his own initiative and did not inform his superiors of his contacts with the suspect.
Investigators said Berezovska had received cryptocurrency payments from the two arrested men before her death, prompting prosecutors to also examine whether they may have been involved in the bombing in Monaco.
During searches of the suspects’ properties, prosecutors said investigators discovered what they described as a blood-stained “torture chamber” containing hammers and other equipment. Authorities released video footage of the alleged site, although independent media, including The Guardian, said they had not been able to verify the prosecutors’ account.
The developments come days after an explosion at a residential building in Monaco seriously injured Vadym Iermolaiev, a 58-year-old businessman born in Ukraine who now holds Cypriot citizenship, along with his partner and their son, according to French police and judicial sources. Iermolaiev and his partner suffered serious injuries, while the child sustained minor injuries.
Monaco authorities have not officially identified the victims. However, French media, citing police and judicial sources, named Iermolaiev and his family as those targeted in the attack.
French prosecutors allege Berezovska, who had been living in Germany, disguised herself as a man before planting an explosive device in the entrance hall of the family’s apartment building on June 29. Monaco’s deputy prosecutor said she later fled on foot into neighboring France before traveling through several European countries, including Italy, and eventually reaching Germany.
The attack drew condemnation from Prince Albert II of Monaco, who described it as “an odious act” and said all of the principality’s security services had been mobilized to investigate the bombing.
The case has also drawn international attention because of its potential political implications. Prosecutors have not alleged that Ukraine’s intelligence services officially authorized either the Monaco bombing or Berezovska’s subsequent killing. They said the arrested HUR officer appeared to have acted independently, and the investigation remains ongoing.
The incident comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues efforts to strengthen international support for Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. Any confirmed evidence linking members of Ukraine’s security services to violent acts on European soil could have diplomatic consequences, although no such official link has been established.
Iermolaiev has also been a controversial figure in Ukraine. In 2023, the Ukrainian government imposed sanctions against him, alleging he maintained business ties with Russian entities operating in territories occupied by Moscow, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, he had been living in Monaco, where independent Ukrainian media previously referred to a group of wealthy expatriate Ukrainians as the “Monaco battalion.”
Authorities in Monaco, France, and Ukraine continue to investigate both the bombing and Berezovska’s death.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
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