Monaco explosion: businessman's partner has legs amputated, attack may be linked to fraudulent call centres in Dnipro

The partner of sanctioned Ukrainian businessman Vadym Yermolaiev has lost both legs as a result of an explosion in Monaco. Sources in law enforcement told Ukrainska Pravda that the attack is believed to have been the work of representatives of organised crime and may be linked to fraudulent call centres Yermolaiev set up in Dnipro that allegedly offered fictitious investment opportunities.

Source: nice-matin; informed UP sources in law enforcement

Update: It later became known that the injured woman is Yermolaiev's partner, not his wife as previously reported. According to Suspilne, the woman who is legally Yermolaiev's wife was elsewhere at the time of the explosion.

Details: According to UP's sources, French law enforcement agencies believe the incident may have been the work of representatives of organised crime.

UP's sources suggest the attack may have been linked to the fraudulent call centres in Dnipro.

As a result of the explosion, the woman who was with Yermolaiev lost both legs and suffered life-threatening injuries; Yermolaiev's injuries are not life-threatening, while his 13-year-old son sustained minor injuries.

Nice-matin, a regional outlet on the Côte d'Azur, reported that Yermolaiev sustained burns and shrapnel injuries from the explosive device. He was conscious when he was photographed during his evacuation to a hospital in Nice.

His partner's condition was far more critical: her lower limbs were partially severed. She was rushed to a hospital in Nice, where doctors performed an amputation.

A third casualty who was taken to hospital in Nice is described in media reports as "a young man whose identity had not been established as of Monday evening".

He reportedly sustained burns and bruises after being thrown by the blast wave, and a bolt from the explosive device appears to have lodged in his leg.

Two other people who suffered from shock reportedly received assistance from emergency workers.

According to eyewitness accounts cited by local media, the suspect was seen wearing a dark top and a cap. He was caught on CCTV cameras in the town of Beausoleil, but police lost track of him in a blind alley.

A major search for him involving a French gendarmerie helicopter continued throughout the night from Monday to Tuesday morning.

Background:

• Vadym Yermolaiev is a businessman from Dnipro, founder of the Alef trade and industrial corporation and one of the city's largest property developers. He was previously listed among Forbes Ukraine's 100 richest Ukrainians, but later renounced his Ukrainian citizenship to become a citizen of Cyprus.
• In December 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted a National Security and Defence Council decision to impose personal sanctions on Yermolaiev for a period of 10 years. The Security Service of Ukraine cited the activities of his alcohol business in occupied Crimea, where his companies paid taxes to the Russian budget, as grounds for the restrictions.
• Yermolaiev was also featured in Ukrainska Pravda's Monaco Battalion investigation into Ukrainian businessmen, politicians and oligarchs who settled on the French Riviera during Russia's full-scale invasion.
• On the evening of 29 June, Yermolaiev was injured in a powerful explosion at a residential building in the Principality of Monaco, near the border with France.

Subscribe on Patreon to back our journalism long-term.