Monaco Bomb Mystery Deepens as Ukrainian Security Services Linked to Murder of Prime Suspect

French police last week identified Anastasia Berezovska as the person captured on CCTV leaving a rucksack outside a Monaco apartment block. The bomb exploded, injuring Ukrainian businessman Vadym Iermolaiev as he emerged with his partner and their 13-year-old child.

Prosecutors said Berezovska, 39, disguised as a man, fled in a car with German plates, crossing into France and then Italy. On July 1, she traveled to Ukraine, catching a bus to her hometown of Zhytomyr. Officials announced Tuesday that her body had been found in woods near Kyiv.

According to Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency, Berezovska was met by two men who made payments to her bank and crypto accounts. One of them, Vladyslav Reut, appeared in court on Thursday accused of her murder. Reut identified his alleged accomplice as Vitaliy Zhykovych, a former Kyiv region policeman.

Ukrainian media reported that Reut, 33, studied law at Kyiv National University and worked for Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency. He served in unit A2772, a training center for special operations forces. In court, Reut claimed Zhykovych was responsible for Berezovska’s cold-blooded killing. They took her at gunpoint to a forest near the village of Yuriv, 60km west of Kyiv.

“Zhykovych fired the first shot at her in the back of the head. She fell down. He came up and fired another shot. I was standing a few metres away at that moment,” Reut told the judge. He said Zhykovych forced him to dig a hole, took all of Berezovska’s belongings and removed her trainers. Reut insisted on taking a polygraph to prove his innocence. Zhykovych’s lawyer, Anatoliy Ivanov, said his client denied the allegations.

The SBU said it found Berezovska’s body after the men confessed and its officers recovered bullet casings from the forest. It also published grainy footage of a “torture chamber” in the basement of Zhykovych’s home in Bilogorodka, though investigators later clarified that Berezovska was not tortured before her murder.

Given the connection with Ukrainian military intelligence, the case is embarrassing for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, even if officials say the two men acted alone. French President Emmanuel Macron urged Zelenskyy to get to the bottom of the affair and punish those responsible. Zelenskyy told the Guardian he expected further reports in the coming days about the incident and promised to update the public.

Investigative journalist Mykhailo Tkach of Ukrainska Pravda said it would be hard to imagine a worse scenario, noting that an explanation would be required at the highest level regarding possible involvement of GUR officials. In 2023, Ukraine imposed personal sanctions on Iermolaiev, a billionaire with a fortune estimated at $220m. The SBU accused him of trading alcohol in occupied Crimea and paying taxes to Russia. Iermolaiev called the charges “absolutely surreal” and said he donated to the Ukrainian military.

A source who knows Iermolaiev suggested the bombing and murder were criminal rather than political, possibly over a protection money dispute. “The woman was disposable,” the source said.

Details of Berezovska’s life are emerging: she lived in Frankfurt, where German police searched her apartment; previously she bred dogs in Zhytomyr and was convicted of petty hooliganism in 2021.

The speed of the suspects’ arrests surprised observers, with the SBU directly blaming an employee from the rival GUR. Some see this as reflecting animosity between the agencies. Unanswered questions include how Berezovska re-entered Ukraine and whether she acted alone in Monaco. Ukraine’s border service said she entered lawfully on July 1 via a regular crossing point, as French authorities had not issued an arrest warrant.

In Kyiv, concerns about damage to Ukraine’s reputation persist. MP Oleksandr Merezhko said allies deserve an explanation, adding that the quick capture could be seen as evidence of effective law enforcement work.