Monaco issues arrest warrant after bombing injures three in residence hall

Monaco has issued an arrest warrant for a foreign national suspected in a parcel bombing that injured three people in a residential building near the French border, and prosecutors said they would also seek an Interpol Red Notice as the suspect remains outside the principality. The move turns the case into a cross-border manhunt between Monaco and France, with investigators treating the blast as attempted murder rather than terrorism.

The explosion tore through the entrance hall of a building on Rue du Révérend Père Louis Frolla on June 29, shortly before 9 p.m., after a package or backpack containing an explosive device was left at the door. Monaco prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said the suspect fled on foot toward Beausoleil, the French commune just across the border, and that police cooperation between Monaco and France helped identify the suspect quickly.

The bombing injured three people, including the reported target, Vadym Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian-born businessman and permanent Monaco resident. Reports identified Yermolaiev as a Cypriot citizen and said he had been under Ukrainian sanctions since December 2023 over business links to Russian-annexed Crimea. His partner and a 13-year-old relative were also reported injured in the blast.

Monaco’s prosecutor’s office said the suspect is a foreign national and no longer in Monaco, a detail that underscores the practical limits of policing in a microstate where the border with France is crossed in minutes. Local media reported that the suspect may be a woman who disguised herself as a man, adding another layer to an investigation that has already crossed jurisdictions and moved quickly from scene work to an international alert.

Prince Albert II called the bombing a “heinous crime” and said it had shocked the Monegasque community. The attack landed in a country that markets itself on security, discretion and surveillance, making the breach of a residence hall entrance in one of Europe’s most closely watched enclaves a test of how far those safeguards reach once a suspect slips into neighboring France.