Ukraine, Russia peace efforts stall as strikes intensify
Ukraine has ramped up its aerial assault, executing drone attacks deep within Russian territory, targeting both a refinery in Russian-controlled Crimea and an oil reservoir near Moscow. According to Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent Greg Palkot, these strikes are intended to deliver a stern message to Moscow, especially as peace talks between the two countries remain at a standstill.
On Friday, the International Criminal Police Organization, known as Interpol, issued a red notice for 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska, a Ukrainian woman accused of orchestrating a bombing at a Monaco apartment complex. This attack allegedly targeted a Ukrainian oligarch with ties to Russia.
The explosion on June 30 at the apartment building, as reported by various media outlets, left Vadym Yermolaiev, a construction tycoon originally from Ukraine, injured.
Though Monaco’s public prosecutor, Stéphane Thibault, refrained from naming the victims, it’s been reported that the blast also wounded a woman and a 13-year-old child thought to be members of Yermolaiev’s family.
Interpol now lists Berezovska as wanted for attempted murder, placing an explosive device with the intent to harm on a public highway, as well as for criminal association.
Interpol identified the Ukrainian national as a dark-haired German-speaking woman who possibly has a tattoo of a snake on her arm.
Surveillance photo of Anastasiia Berezovska (Interpol)
The 39-year-old suspect was initially believed to be a heavy-set man. Monaco Deputy Prosecutor Morgan Raymond even initially referred to the suspect in masculine terms.
“He stood up a few meters ahead of the victims, placed an explosive device taken from his shopping bag on the entrance steps of the building, then turned to confirm the presence of the three victims before triggering the explosion using a remote control,” Raymond said at an initial news conference after the incident.
Prosecutors reviewed footage of the days leading up to the explosion, finding that a man wearing a fishing hat repeatedly cased the apartment building and surrounding area. However, on June 28, the man was absent from security footage. Instead, a woman — who prosecutors now believe to be Berezovska — followed the same patterns as the man.
Surveillance photo of Anastasiaa Berezovska (Interpol)
“The repeated reconnaissance operations and the pauses made in front of the building clearly demonstrate the intention to specifically target the three victims,” Raymond said.
Investigators tracked her escape across the Monaco-France border, through Italy and into Germany, where authorities are now actively looking for her. They raided her Frankfurt apartment Thursday.
Raymond noted that the sophistication of her explosive device gives prosecutors reason to believe she did not act alone.
“The relative sophistication of the explosive device and the modus operandi appear to indicate that the person who placed the device was not acting alone,” Morgan said.
The damaged entrance of a residential building after an explosion in Monaco June 30, 2026. (Reuters/Alexandre Dimou)
Though authorities have provided no motive, Yermolaiev’s status as a sanctioned former Ukrainian is notable.
The 58-year-old construction tycoon renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017, Ukrainian media reported, and has been a citizen of Cyprus since 2019.
In 2023, the Ukrainian government sanctioned him for allegedly continuing to engage with Russia, paying taxes to Moscow and facilitating business transactions through his liquor business in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014.