Businessman Vadim Ermolaev and family members were injured last month when a backpack bomb exploded outside their residential building
Newly released footage shows the moment a bomb exploded in an assassination attempt on exiled Ukrainian businessman Vadim Ermolaev in Monaco last month.
Multimillionaire Ermolaev, now a Cypriot citizen, his partner, and their 13-year-old son were seriously injured on June 29 when an improvised explosive device detonated near the entrance to a residential building. Ermolaev, who was sanctioned by Kiev in 2023, had reportedly planned to expose corruption involving senior Ukrainian officials.
The footage was published on Friday by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who said on Telegram that the suspects had secretly installed a surveillance camera near the scene to verify the assassination before deleting the recording. Investigators later recovered and restored the footage, he said.
The video shows a person placing a black backpack by the entrance before walking away. Minutes later, Ermolaev and his family approach the building. The suspect appears to glance back twice while speaking on a mobile phone before the device explodes. Investigators said the bomb was remotely detonated and packed with shrapnel.
Investigators identified Ukrainian national Anastasia Berezovskaya as the main suspect in the bombing. Prosecutors said she was later found dead outside Kiev with a gunshot wound to the head, allegedly killed by accomplices seeking to eliminate a witness.
According to investigators, Berezovskaya had been in contact before the bombing with two men, including Vitaly Zhikovich, an acting colonel in the Ukrainian military intelligence agency (HUR). Ukrainian authorities later detained Zhikovich and a former law enforcement officer over her killing, identifying Zhikovich as the alleged organizer of the Monaco attack. Police said a search of his home uncovered a basement room that “resembled a torture dungeon.”
According to Russian security services, Zhikovich attempted but failed to commit at least 20 terrorist acts in Russia in recent years.
Former Ukrainian diplomat Andrey Telizhenko told RT that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov had “personally cleared” the killing of the woman suspected of carrying out the Monaco bombing. He claimed Kiev intended to use her in a broader operation to implicate Russia.
