The Italian daily Corriere della Sera linked Monday's bomb attack on Ukrainian businessman Vadym Yermolaiev in Monaco to a possible settling of scores within the phone-fraud milieu of Ukraine's Dnipro. Corriere della Sera ↗
Key actors — tap for context
Vadym Yermolaiev
Ukrainian oligarch from Dnipro, now a Cypriot citizen and Monaco resident
Why here: victim of Monday's attack, which Corriere links to the phone-fraud milieu and the case of his son Artur
More info →Artur Yermolaiev
son of Vadym Yermolaiev, convicted leader of fraudulent call centers in Estonia
Why here: his case, according to Corriere, connects the Yermolaiev family with the fraudster clan
Igor Komarov
son of clan co-founder Serhii Komarov, Ukrainian tourist
Why here: kidnapped and murdered in Bali in February; journalists link the case to the attack on Yermolaiev
Anastasiia Berezovska
39-year-old Ukrainian, main suspect in the bomb attack on Yermolaiev in Monaco
Why here: found dead near Kyiv with gunshot wounds; a Ukrainian military intelligence officer confessed to her murder
Ukrainian Military Intelligence (HUR)
the main foreign intelligence body of the Ukrainian armed forces
Why here: one of its officers confessed to killing the main suspect in the Monaco attack, claiming he acted on his own
Dnipro
Ukrainian industrial city on the Dnieper River
Why here: according to Corriere, the origin of both the Yermolaiev and Komarov families
More info →
Bali
Indonesian island, popular tourist destination
Why here: site where Igor Komarov was kidnapped and murdered
More info →Anna Nasobina
Vadym Yermolaiev's partner, seriously injured in the explosion
Why here: lost both legs; according to ANSA/Nice Matin remains in a life-threatening condition
The motive for the attack on Yermolaiev remains unclear — according to CNN, he himself has no obvious ties to the war in Ukraine, although Kyiv sanctioned him in 2023 for doing business in occupied Crimea, which he denied. Corriere therefore allows that it could have been a warning or revenge from the same criminal underworld as in Komarov's case. Corriere della Sera ↗
According to the French daily Nice Matin, Vadym Yermolaiev's health has significantly improved, and the Ukrainian businessman has come out of his coma. His partner Anna Nasobina, who lost both legs in the explosion, remains in a life-threatening condition according to the same source; she has received multiple blood transfusions and is at risk of losing her sight, hearing, and speech. Their thirteen-year-old son is hospitalized at a children's hospital in Nice with less severe, non-life-threatening injuries. ANSA ↗
The motive for the attack remains officially unconfirmed, and Corriere's theory is for now just one of several in play. Monaco's deputy prosecutor Morgan Raymond confirmed that the suspect, Anastasiia Berezovska, had surveilled the victims in advance and detonated the device remotely only once all three victims were in front of the entrance, and that investigators believe she did not act alone. Politico Europe ↗ The French paper Le Parisien, citing the Italian agency ANSA, described her as a woman "with known links to organized crime," which lends more weight to the underworld-settling-of-scores theory, though investigators have not yet confirmed a direct link to the specific case of Artur's call center. ANSA ↗ An earlier theory that Ukraine's SBU security service could have been behind the attack, reported by Le Figaro earlier in the week, no longer appears in more recent coverage.
Investigators found Berezovska's body during a crime-scene reconstruction based on the testimony of one of the detained individuals; spent shell casings were also found at the site, according to the SBU. A HUR officer confessed to the murder together with a former security services member — investigators were led to both men by repeated cryptocurrency and money transfers to Berezovska's accounts. During a house search at the former security services member's home, the SBU additionally found a basement it described as resembling a torture chamber. CBC News ↗ Berezovska returned to Ukraine on July 1 after having been abroad since March 2025 — she most recently lived in Germany near Frankfurt, where German police searched her rented apartment last week. Euronews ↗
Who ordered or organized the attack in Monaco remains, according to the SBU, still under investigation — the service stated that it is sharing all findings to date with Monaco investigators and continues working to identify who commissioned it. CBC News ↗ The earlier theory that Ukrainian intelligence itself could have been behind the attack — reported by Le Figaro earlier in the week and since absent from more recent coverage — has thus taken on a new but different dimension: the officer confessed to murdering the suspect, not to ordering the original attack, and according to his own testimony he claims to have acted on his own initiative. Interpol responded to her death only by saying it had no immediate comment, and her red notice remains active on its website until Monaco requests its withdrawal. CBC News ↗
The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung points to important context: just days before the attack, Ukrainska Pravda published another installment of its multi-part documentary series about wealthy Ukrainians in Monaco, in which Yermolaiev played a prominent role. The paper also notes that Yermolaiev's corporate conglomerate includes the beverage company Alef-Vinal, which owns vineyards and production facilities in occupied Crimea. NZZ also points out that the HUR military intelligence service is known for operations targeting Russians or people cooperating with Russia — raising the question of whether this could have been an institutional operation, though direct confirmation is lacking. Neue Zürcher Zeitung ↗
According to Finland's public broadcaster Yle, the HUR officer subsequently retracted his confession to Berezovska's murder. Neither the SBU nor Monaco investigators have yet commented on this new twist in the case — who actually ordered the attack in Monaco remains an open question. (Yle ↗)
Read also: Interpol searching for Ukrainian woman after Monaco bombing
