Monaco prosecutors exclude terrorism in apartment blast that injured three Ukrainians

Monaco’s authorities have determined, for now, that terrorism does not appear to have driven an explosion that injured three people at the doorway of a residential block on Monday night.

Prosecutor Stephane Thibault told journalists on Tuesday that the man believed to have placed a package at the entrance before the detonation had acted on his own, fled the scene on foot, and had not yet been captured.

Footage from security cameras captured the individual moving along a street in a black jacket, pale trousers, white footwear, and a dark hat that largely hid his face.

Police are pursuing the case as attempted murder and are not treating it as a terrorism inquiry, Thibault said, noting that investigators had not yet established why the attack was carried out.

Among the wounded, a woman was reported to be in critical condition. Her partner and their 13-year-old child sustained injuries judged less serious but were still receiving hospital care. Thibault gave no names for the victims.

Press accounts have linked Ukrainian construction magnate Vadym Yermolaiev to those hurt. The Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda has reported that he was placed under Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 over alleged connections to Russia.

Surveillance material suggested the trio were heading home without incident in the early evening, Christophe Mirmand, Monaco’s minister of state, told French broadcaster LCI. "They were caught in the explosion as they crossed the threshold of their apartment building," he said.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said it was coordinating with officials in Monaco and confirmed that three people of Ukrainian heritage from the same family were hurt. It withheld their identities while verifying their citizenship status.

Yermolaiev, a wealthy resident of Monaco, has faced Ukrainian sanctions since December 2023. Ukrainian security sources have been cited as saying those measures related to his alcohol-related business operations in Russian-held Crimea.

The principality, home to roughly 38,000 residents and a concentration of the global elite, is widely regarded as among the world’s most secure territories, with thousands of surveillance cameras monitoring much of public life.