A prominent Ukrainian billionaire has been left in a critical condition alongside his wife after a suspect planted a shrapnel-filled backpack bomb at the entrance of their Monaco residence, with the couple’s teenage son also injured in what authorities are treating as a deliberate targeted attack.
Vadim Ermolaev, the founder of Ukrainian real estate giant Alef Corporation and one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, was the apparent target of the explosion, which detonated at around 9pm on Monday on Rue Révérend-Père-Louis-Frolla in the principality. The bomb contained bolts and other shrapnel, causing serious injuries to Ermolaev and his wife, while their son, understood to be around 13, suffered less severe wounds.
CCTV footage showed a suspect placing the backpack at the building’s entrance before fleeing on foot toward the French town of Beausoleil, just across the border from Monaco. The attacker remains at large, with a joint manhunt involving Monégasque and French police forces under way.
Monaco prosecutor Thibault Stéphane confirmed to Le Figaro that two victims were in critical condition and that bomb disposal experts and judicial police were working at the scene. The principality activated its “red plan” emergency protocol — a pre-established strategy for incidents resulting in multiple casualties — in response to the blast.
Ermolaev has been known to spend time on the French Riviera and in Monaco, a jurisdiction with one of the lowest crime rates in the world, making an attack of this nature extraordinarily rare. Authorities are treating the explosion as a likely targeted assault, though the precise motive — whether connected to business rivalries, personal disputes or other factors — is still under investigation.
Eric Ciotti, Mayor of neighbouring Nice, was among the first public figures to respond, writing on X: “The attack carried out this evening is a tragedy that strikes Monaco. Thoughts for the victims, their families, and the people of Monaco. Total support for the security forces and emergency services mobilised.”
