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A parcel bomb wounded a Ukrainian businessman and two family members in Monaco on Monday night, in what officials described as the first attack of its kind in the principality's history, as French and Monégasque police launched a manhunt for the suspected attacker, who fled on foot into France.
The explosion struck shortly before 9 p.m. local time at the entrance of a residential building on a street bordering France.
Monaco's Minister of State Christophe Mirmand said two adults in their 50s or 60s suffered life-threatening injuries, while a 13-year-old suffered less serious injuries. He said the teenager was "very likely related" to the couple.
All three were taken to hospitals in Nice, France.
A source close to the investigation, speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity, identified one of those wounded as Ukrainian businessman Vadym Yermolaiev.
French broadcaster BFM TV and newspaper Le Figaro, along with Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda, reported that Yermolaiev, a major real estate developer in Dnipro who left Ukraine several years ago, renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a Greek Cypriot citizen, and was the target of the attack.
He was placed under Ukrainian sanctions in December 2023.
A French source close to the investigation told BFM TV the three victims were Ukrainian nationals: a couple aged 50 to 60 and a 13-year-old. Two of the victims were identified as Yermolaiev and his partner. According to the report, Yermolaiev, born in 1968, had previously ranked as high as 23rd on Forbes' list of Ukraine's wealthiest people.
Monaco's public prosecutor, Stéphane Thibault, said a suspect left a bag or package in the building's lobby before fleeing.
The Monaco government said the "strong explosion" was caused by a "parcel bomb," writing on X that "a suspect was seen on video surveillance fleeing towards the municipality of Beausoleil in France."
Mirmand said the explosive device appeared to contain bolts and buckshot, and that emergency services treated four additional people for shock and cuts from shattered windows.
"This is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality," Mirmand said.
Monaco's Sûreté Publique told BFM Nice that surveillance footage showed a man dropping the backpack at the foot of the building before leaving on foot, dressed in beige pants, a black jacket, and a black hat partially concealing his face.
Silvano Ippolito, a Monaco resident living near the site of the blast, described the chaotic aftermath to BFM TV.
Believing initially that the explosion was a gas leak, he went downstairs with his son and said he saw "a small boy who was on the ground, bleeding, with someone trying to help him," as well as "a woman slumped over, covered in blood" on the building's stairs.
"She was missing her feet," he said.
Ippolito said he immediately called his wife, an emergency medical worker in Monaco, and asked her to come help the wounded "while waiting for the ambulance and firefighters to arrive."
"My wife came to lend a hand, provide first aid, apply tourniquets," he said.
He described the badly injured woman as being "in a terrible state."
"It looked like a war scene," he said.
Monaco's Prince Albert II described the incident as "a heinous crime" and "a shock to the entire Monégasque community," saying "all concerned state services are currently being mobilized" in cooperation with French authorities.
An aide to French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police were working "to find the perpetrator, who has fled."
More than 100 police and emergency personnel were deployed to the scene, according to AFP, including roughly 50 firefighters and 80 security personnel.
An AFP photographer at the scene saw a heavy police presence, with the area cordoned off and a helicopter circling overhead, later reports said two helicopters were deployed in the search for the suspect.
Nice Mayor Eric Ciotti wrote on X: "The attack committed this evening is a tragedy for Monaco."
Mirmand told a news conference late Monday that intelligence services were working to understand the victims' background and "determine if others might be facing specific threats." He said the prosecutor would give a further briefing Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, public prosecutor Thibault said nothing yet indicated why the building had been targeted, while officials had not formally confirmed a motive.
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