A fugitive linked to the Monaco bombing that injured a sanctioned Ukrainian oligarch and his companion has been discovered dead from gunshot wounds in Ukraine, media reports indicate.
The body of Anastasiia Berezovska was located near Kyiv late Monday evening around 11 p.m., as confirmed by sources speaking to the Ukrainian news outlet Pravda. Two individuals have been taken into custody in connection with the incident.
Local reports reveal that those detained include a current officer from the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) and a former law enforcement official.
Berezovska, aged 39, was accused of orchestrating an explosion that targeted Vadym Yermolaiev, a 58-year-old Ukrainian businessman, with a homemade bomb at the entrance of a building in Monaco the previous Monday.
Authorities identified her as a suspect last Friday, issuing an Interpol “red notice” for her arrest on charges including attempted murder, setting an explosive in a public area with criminal intent, and engaging in criminal conspiracy.
Cops initially believed a man, who was seen wearing a bucket hat, had carried out the attack.
“This person is likely to disguise themselves in such a way as to appear as a man,” according to a police memo seen by BFM.
But she planted an explosive-packed backpack outside Yermolaiev’s apartment and detonating it with a remote control.
Berezovska used a car she had rented in Germany to flee the area. She fled to the French-Italian border before making her way to Switzerland, according to the Italian news agency ANSA, before returning to Germany.
Yermolaiev was injured along was the woman he was with – Anna Nasobina — who lost her legs in the attack. Nasobina, 46, was with her 13-year-old son when the bomb detonated.
Yermolaiev is a multi-millionaire living in Monaco who had sanctions slapped on him by Kyiv beginning in December 2023 — reportedly stemming from his alcohol business activity in Russian-occupied Crimea, France24 reported.
He was among the wealthiest tycoons in Ukraine who led in the fields of commercial real estate, manufacturing and agriculture.
He told Forbes Ukraine that he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a citizen of Cyprus in 2017.
Yermolaiev’s eldest son, Artur, was arrested in Cyprus last year and accused of organizing large-scale fraudulent call centers targeting Europeans, according to the Pravda newspaper.