Ukrainian court reveals details of Monaco explosion plotter's murder, names second man involved

An investigation has established that Anastasiia Berezovska, who is a suspect in the attempted murder of Ukrainian businessman Vadym Yermolaiev in Monaco, was killed near the village of Yuriv, Kyiv Oblast, by Vladyslav Reut and his accomplice Vitalii Zhykovych on 3 July.

Source: broadcast of the court hearing on 9 July on the choice of a pre-trial restriction for the suspects

Details: During the hearing, the prosecutor said that Reut and Zhykovych killed Berezovska, who had returned to Ukraine, for personal reasons.

The prosecutor stated that 50-year-old Zhykovych had recruited his 34-year-old acquaintance Reut to carry out the murder of Berezovska.

The two men met on 3 July at a café in the village of Bilohorodka, Bucha district, and picked up Berezovska in a black BMW on a stretch of the M06 Kyiv-Chop motorway.

While driving to a wooded area near the village of Yuriv in Bucha district, Zhykovych prepared a firearm and ammunition for it.

On arriving at the wooded area near the village, Reut and Zhykovych agreed on a plan to kill Berezovska using the firearm that was in the car.

The prosecutor said Zhykovych distracted Berezovska while Reut took the pistol, approached her from behind and fired at least two shots into the back of her head, killing her instantly.

The two men then buried Berezovska's body near the wooded area of Yuriv and threw the pistol into a nearby body of water.

Ukrainska Pravda sources in law enforcement said Berezovska had been outside Ukraine from 22 March 2025 until 1 July 2026.

For reference: Vadym Yermolaiev, a businessman from Dnipro, founded the Alef industrial and commercial group and is one of the city's largest property developers. He previously featured regularly on Forbes Ukraine's list of the country's 100 richest people. In 2019, he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in favour of Cypriot citizenship.

Background:

• At around 21:00 on 29 June, three people were injured in an explosion in Monaco, two of them critically. According to media reports, the victims included Yermolaiev and people close to him.
• The explosion triggered a large-scale manhunt for the suspect believed to have planted the explosive device. Initially, investigators believed the suspect was a man captured on surveillance cameras who had fled to France. Journalists later reported that the suspect was in fact a woman who may have disguised herself as a man.
• Media reports suggested that investigators in Monaco are examining a possible link between the attempted assassination of Yermolaiev and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU).
• On 3 July, Interpol issued a Red Notice for 39-year-old Ukrainian national Anastasiia Berezovska. According to Monaco's law enforcement authorities, she was suspected of planting the explosive device that seriously injured Yermolaiev and his family members.
• Ukraine's National Police, the SSU, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) and the Office of the Prosecutor General have detained two people on suspicion of murdering a woman who was wanted by Interpol in connection with the attempted murder of the family of Vadym Yermolaiev in Monaco. Investigators looked into the two men as possible accomplices in the attempted murder in Monaco after discovering that both had repeatedly transferred money to Berezovska via cryptocurrency and bank accounts.

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