Monaco parcel bomb blast severely wounds Ukrainian oligarch

A parcel bomb blast wounded a Ukrainian oligarch and two others in Monaco on Monday in an unprecedented act that has rocked the super-safe principality.A couple and a teenager were wounded in the explosion at about 9pm on Monday in a residential building on a street along the border with France.A source close to the investigation who asked not to be named told AFP that one of those wounded was the Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev.Prince Albert II, the head of state, described the incident as a “heinous crime” and “a shock to the entire Monegasque community”.An aide to France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said police were working “to find the perpetrator, who has fled”.A couple in their 50s or 60s suffered life-threatening injuries, while a 13-year-old suffered less serious injuries in the explosion, Monaco’s minister of state, Christophe Mirmand, said, without disclosing their identities.He added that the teenager was “very likely related” to the pair.An AFP photographer at the scene saw a heavy police presence with access to the area cordoned off, while a helicopter circled overhead.About 50 firefighters and 80 security personnel were deployed at the scene.The public prosecutor Stephane Thibault said a suspect had left a bag or package in the building’s lobby before leaving. There was no indication yet as to why the building might have been targeted, he added.The Monaco government said the “strong explosion” was caused by a “parcel bomb”.“A suspect was seen on video surveillance fleeing towards the municipality of Beausoleil in France,” it wrote on X.Mirmand said witnesses had provided information to identify the suspect. The explosive device apparently contained bolts and buckshot, Mirmand said.Emergency services treated four other people for shock and cuts from windows shattered in the blast, he said. “This is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality,” Mirmand added.Yermolaiev, a multimillionaire Monaco resident, has been subject to sanctions from Kyiv since December 2023, which Ukrainian security services reportedly said stemmed from his alcohol business activity in Russian-occupied Crimea.Mirmand told a news conferenceon Monday that intelligences services were working to understand the victims’ background and “determine if others might be facing specific threats”.He said the prosecutor would give another news briefing on Tuesday.