Ukrainian suspect hunted by police after Monaco bomb attack was ‘disguised as a man’

A Ukrainian woman identified as the main suspect for a parcel bombing in Monaco was “disguised as a man”, according to the city-state’s deputy prosecutor.

Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, is suspected of leaving a package in the entrance hall of an apartment building, before fleeing the scene on foot and then driving to Germany.

A sanctioned Ukrainian multi-millionaire, his partner and 13-year-old son are the reported victims of the attack, which left them seriously injured.

An Interpol Red Notice has been issued for Berezovska, who speaks German and is wanted for attempted murder, placing an explosive device on a public road with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy.

A package was left at the property just before 21:00 local time (20:00 BST) on Monday, followed by an explosion shortly afterwards.

Monaco’s deputy prosecutor Morgan Raymond said investigators were also looking for possible accomplices as they continue to search for the suspect.

The explosion happened just as the three residents were entering the building on Monday evening.

Authorities in Monaco have not confirmed the victims’ identifies but according to local reports, the attack targeted Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner and his son.

Yermolaiev, 58, is a wealthy real estate developer, who has been living in Monaco.

Officials believe Berezovska had spent some days casing out the residence.

Raymond said the suspect, pictured on CCTV cameras wearing a dark bucket hat, left the scene on foot after depositing the parcel but is then believed to have picked up a hire car and driven to Italy and on to Germany.

Photos of Berezovska released by Interpol show a woman with dark shoulder-length hair. She has a tattoo on her right arm which “possibly” depicts a snake, according to officers.

Interpol is not a police force itself, but helps forces across the world to co-operate.

A Red Notice is an alert to all of its 196 member countries, asking them to locate and arrest a person.

Monaco’s public prosecutor Stephane Thibault thanked police from Monaco and France for their co-operation which made it possible “to identify, in a particularly short time, the person suspected of having carried out the attack”.

Meanwhile police in the state of Hesse, Germany, confirmed in a statement that special forces had searched the rented apartment of a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman in the Main-Taunus district on Thursday.

A vehicle she used was also searched and seized.

“Evidence has been secured and will be handed over to the Monegasque authorities. The Hessian security authorities are supporting the Monegasque authorities in their investigations and are in close contact with them,” the statement said.

“The woman being sought is currently on the run. An international arrest warrant has been issued.”

Prince Albert II of Monaco has described the incident as a “heinous crime”.

Authorities in Monaco have confirmed the three victims were treated in hospital.

The adults were seriously wounded and taken to the Nice University Hospital (CHU), while the child, who suffered minor injuries, was admitted in a non-critical condition to the Lenval children’s hospital in Nice.

On Wednesday, the man was no longer in a life-or-death situation, but the woman’s condition had not yet stabilised, AFP news agency reported.

Yermolaiev, widely believed to be the presumed target of the blast, is a Cypriot citizen after renouncing his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019.

He has big interests in the wine and alcohol business in Russian-annexed Crimea, and since 2023 has been the subject of sanctions imposed by the government in Kyiv.

He was named the 39th richest Ukrainian by Forbes magazine in 2020, with a fortune of $230m (£173.8m).