Ukraine's expanding campaign of covert operations against individuals and assets linked to Russia is drawing renewed scrutiny after a bombing in Monaco seriously injured a Ukrainian businessman who had been sanctioned by Kyiv over alleged business activities in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Vadym Yermolaiev was among three people wounded in the June 29 explosion outside an apartment building in Monaco.

Authorities in the principality are investigating the blast as an attempted assassination, while French authorities are assisting the cross-border investigation.

Officials have not publicly identified a motive or named those responsible.

The attack has fueled speculation about whether Ukraine's Security Service, known as the SBU, has expanded its operations beyond Russia and occupied Ukrainian territory into Western Europe.

Ukrainian authorities have not claimed responsibility, and no evidence has been made public linking the Ukrainian government to the bombing.

Yermolaiev moved to the French Riviera after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine imposed sanctions on him in 2023 after alleging he continued business activities in occupied Crimea, accusations he has denied.

The Monaco bombing follows a series of high-profile Ukrainian intelligence operations that have struck deep inside Russia during the war.

Ukrainian officials have acknowledged carrying out attacks against military infrastructure and other targets supporting the war, although Kyiv often declines to comment on specific intelligence operations.

An analysis published by Britain's Daily Telegraph and written by Col. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former assistant director of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance for the British army, argued that "if Ukraine were responsible for the attack last week, the strategic message is unmistakable."

The report continued: "Those who actively assist Russia's war effort cannot assume that crossing an international border places them beyond reach."

According to the analysis, the campaign's psychological impact could prove as significant as its physical effects by forcing Russian military leaders, intelligence officers, and alleged collaborators to question whether they are under constant surveillance.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago, Ukraine's intelligence services have significantly expanded their capabilities, integrating traditional espionage, cyber operations, drone technology, and clandestine missions.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said they reserve the right to target people and infrastructure that support Russia's war effort while declining to confirm responsibility for many individual operations.

The analysis described the SBU as "an extraordinary hybrid organisation," adding that it has "inherited the ruthless tradecraft of the Soviet security services, blended it with the precision and audacity more commonly associated with Mossad, and combined both with the sophisticated surveillance, technology, and intelligence-sharing that characterize western agencies."

The report concluded that "the men and women of the SBU demonstrate extraordinary courage every day," arguing that Ukraine's intelligence campaign "may well" prove as consequential to the outcome of the war as conventional battlefield operations.

The Monaco case has become more complex in recent days after Ukrainian authorities announced the arrest of two men in connection with the killing of the woman suspected of carrying out the bombing.

One of the suspects, a Ukrainian military intelligence officer, allegedly admitted killing the bombing suspect after her return to Ukraine, although authorities said the investigation continues.

The bombing has raised fresh questions among European officials about security, intelligence cooperation, and the potential geographic expansion of covert operations tied to the war, even as investigators continue working to determine who ordered the attack and why.