Exiled tycoon felt safer in Monaco than Kyiv. It was a costly mistake
For Vadym Iermolaiev, the sun-drenched French Riviera was supposed to be a refuge from danger.
The Ukrainian tycoon swapped his war-torn homeland for a lavish residence in Monaco's La Rousse district, a quiet enclave coveted by the ultra-wealthy, overlooking the glittering Mediterranean Sea and its leisurely promenades.
Sanctioned by Kyiv for allegedly selling wine in Russian-occupied Crimea, the magnate was seeking low taxes and "international protection".
He hoped to continue living a life of luxury from the Côte d'Azur while his compatriots weathered the Russian bombardment at home.
But as he strolled through the lobby on Monday night, a booby-trapped backpack exploded in the doorway, sending a storm of bolts and buckshot splintering outwards for maximum impact.
Credit: X/@Worldsource24
Hordes of police, responding to the first attack of its kind in the principality's history, found Mr Iermolaiev covered in burns and bleeding profusely from shrapnel wounds at around 9pm. He remains seriously injured.
Witnesses told French media that the feet of a female victim, believed to be Anna Iermolaieva, his wife, had been blown off and that she had been "slumped over, covered in blood".
The couple's 13-year-old son, one of four children, was also taken to hospital, sources told local media.
A suspect was caught on CCTV fleeing on foot to the nearby French town of Beausoleil. He remains on the run.
A suspect was pictured on CCTV and is still on the run
Christophe Mirmand, Monaco's minister of state, told shell-shocked media and residents that it was the "first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality".
Prosecutors said on Tuesday morning that they were investigating an attempted assassination.
The brazen assault on a prominent public figure is likely to spark accusations of involvement by Moscow or Kyiv, whose shadow war of assassinations has extended beyond their borders.
A mayor who represents National Rally, the hard-Right French political party, in the neighbouring commune of Fréjus asked without evidence: "Has the Kyiv regime [Vladimir Putin's chosen term for the Ukrainian government] become out of control, targeting its own nationals who refuse to bow to its orders in this way?"
Anna Iermolaieva, wife of the exiled tycoon, is believed to have lost her feet in the bombing
Ukraine has not yet commented on the attack but law enforcement sources there said a criminal network linked with fraudulent call centres in the south-eastern city of Dnipro could be connected.
Whoever is responsible, they were able to penetrate the "safest square mile" in Europe, where a substantial law enforcement presence protects a tax haven for the wealthy.
That was one of the attractions for Mr Iermolaiev, a native of Dnipro who had renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017, obtaining a Cypriot passport.
He had described the decision as motivated by a need for "international protection". "The Ukrainian judicial system, to put it mildly, is not ideal and the tax system is not objective," he told Forbes magazine.
The business magnate founded the "Alef" group of companies in the mid-1990s, building it into one of the largest developers in the regional capital.
It was the first such attack in Monaco's history, local authorities said - Valery Hache/AFP via Getty
He soon became a regular fixture on Forbes's list of the richest people in Ukraine. Estimates of Mr Iermolaiev's net worth range from $173m (£131mn) to more than $800m (£606mn).
Yet his standing in Ukraine deteriorated rapidly after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and, later, its invasion of the country in 2022.
Kyiv imposed 10-year sanctions on the tycoon at the recommendation of Ukraine's security services in 2023, for allegedly continuing operations of his alcohol business in Russian-occupied Crimea, thereby paying tax to Moscow.
Mr Iermolaiev denied holding any assets in Crimea or co-operating with Russia in any capacity.
Vadym Iermolaiev was seriously injured in the attack on Monday - Valery Hache/AFP via Getty
Nor was he enamoured with pro-Russian views. In a 2024 interview with Ukrainian publication RBC, he claimed that the equivalent of £20m of his business assets had been plundered by Russian forces and that a missile strike had destroyed his private jet in a hangar attack at Dnipro airport.
"By my very nature and by definition, I cannot have any ties to the occupiers," the businessman said at the time. "The only thing I have is immense hostility towards the devastation Russia has brought to Ukraine, to my family, my loved ones and everyone who lives in Ukraine."
Yet his lavish lifestyle abroad made him a magnet for public anger over the exodus of some of Ukraine's wealthiest people, while millions less fortunate remained to endure the war and fight the Russians.
The blast took place in the centre of Monaco - Manon Cruz/Reuters
He featured in a 2022 investigation by Ukrainska Pravda, the Ukrainian daily newspaper, into the so-called "Monaco Battalion", an ironic term for Ukraine's "elite refugees" who relocated to luxury holiday spots.
Mykhailo Tkach, a prominent investigative journalist, took paparazzo-style photos of dozens of Ukrainian personalities sunning, boarding yachts and emerging from gated communities on the French Riviera. His exposé garnered millions of views and fanned the flames of public anger.
"It is difficult to understand why Ukrainian millionaires and billionaires – who for decades have weakened the country – chose to 'wait out' the war in luxury holiday spots such as Monaco, Monte Carlo and Nice," Mr Tkach wrote at the time.
The investigation led Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation to look into at least 84 wealthy draft-dodgers.
"It will take time, but we will get justice," Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a member of parliament, said at the time. "Ukrainian society wants all members of the Monaco Battalion to be punished."