Monaco Explosion Investigation Focuses on Ukrainian Oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev

For Monaco’s public prosecutor Stéphane Thibault, the incident defies historical precedent. “To my knowledge, it’s the first time in history that such a thing has happened in the principality,” he stated during a press conference on Tuesday morning, hours after a powerful explosion shook the heart of the affluent, high-security micro-state in southern France. The blast, which occurred just before 9 PM, tore through the ground floor of a residential building, injuring three individuals, including a 13-year-old child. Authorities are currently treating the explosion as an “attempted murder,” with Thibault emphasizing that no suspect has been identified so far.

The Construction Magnate of Dnipro

Monegasque officials have not disclosed the identities of the victims, confirming only that they resided on the ground floor and had relocated to the principality in 2021. However, information from French news outlet BFMTV, corroborated by an investigation source to AFP, indicates that one of the injured was Vadym Yermolaiev, a prominent Ukrainian oligarch.

Ryhor Nizhnikau, a specialist in Ukraine and the post-Soviet region at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, noted that Yermolaiev was a key figure in the industrial east during the 1990s before facing political and financial decline. “He is a very typical oligarch from the 1990s,” Nizhnikau explained. “He was probably among the top five oligarchs in the Dnipro region – one of the wealthiest areas in Ukraine.”

In 2023, Yermolaiev was sanctioned by Ukrainian authorities for maintaining business operations in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, even after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. He initially gained prominence by developing “Most-City,” Ukraine’s largest shopping mall in 2006, earning the moniker “Mr Shopping Mall.” His ventures expanded into large-scale infrastructure projects in Dnipro, transforming neighborhoods and redefining the city’s skyline, earning him recognition as “the man who changed the face of Dnipro.”

Yermolaiev’s business empire, anchored by the Alef Group, spans 19 industries, including commercial real estate, dental implants, agro-food production, and river transport. By the mid-2010s, his net worth was estimated at over $300 million, placing him among Ukraine’s 100 wealthiest individuals. However, his fortunes soured due to allegations of profiting from his wine business in Crimea post-annexation, with claims that tax revenues from those ventures supported Moscow’s war effort. In 2019, he renounced Ukrainian citizenship for Cypriot nationality.

Nizhnikau emphasized that Yermolaiev’s decline reflects the broader trajectory of oligarchs who amassed wealth during the post-Soviet era but lost influence amid President Volodymyr Zelensky’s rise and the ongoing conflict with Russia. He added that Yermolaiev was not alone in maintaining ties to Crimea, often using shell companies to circumvent sanctions. The investigation continues, with French and Monegasque authorities seeking a suspect seen in surveillance footage wearing a black bucket hat and leaving a backpack near the explosion site. Analysts suggest the case may reveal deeper connections to Yermolaiev’s business networks in Dnipro or Crimea.

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