Ukraine says Monaco bombing suspect shot dead near Kyiv

Ukrainian authorities said Anastasiia Berezovska, the 39-year-old suspected of carrying out a bombing in Monaco, was found dead near Kyiv on Monday night with gunshot wounds to the head and pistol casings nearby. Her death came after she had returned to Ukraine on July 1, and it immediately shifted the focus from a cross-border manhunt to a murder inquiry inside Ukraine.

Investigators said two men were detained on suspicion of killing her: a serving employee of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, known as HUR, and a former police officer. One of the men reportedly confessed and said he acted on his own initiative, without informing his superiors. During a search of the former officer’s home, investigators said they found a basement room resembling a torture chamber, a detail that deepens questions about how the killing was planned and whether others were involved.

Berezovska had been wanted by Monaco authorities and Interpol in connection with the June 29 bombing in Monaco, which injured three people: Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner and his son. Monaco prosecutors said the suspect had allegedly dressed as a man during the attack, and investigators traced her movement out of Monaco and through France, Germany and Italy before she returned to Ukraine. Interpol had issued a red notice for her, reflecting the intensity of the international search.

Monaco’s prosecutor described the blast as an attempted assassination, and Prince Albert II called it an “odious act.” Investigators said the case was especially alarming because it was believed to be the first bomb assassination attempt ever recorded in Monaco. For now, Berezovska’s death removes the principal suspect from one of the most unusual attacks in the principality’s recent history, but it does not settle who ordered the bombing, how the operation was organized, or whether the killings in Ukraine are part of the same chain.

Yermolaiev, who has been sanctioned by Ukraine since 2023 over alleged links to Russian-occupied Crimea, has denied doing business there. With one suspect dead and two men in custody in Ukraine, investigators still face the central questions: who wanted Yermolaiev targeted, what network moved Berezovska across Europe, and whether the apparent murder near Kyiv closes the case or opens a second one.