Who is Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev, the suspected target of the Monaco bombing?

The profile of Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev and the Monaco bombing reflects a high-stakes investigation in France’s ultra-secure principality. Prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said Tuesday, the morning after an explosion struck a block of flats in Monaco’s south, that authorities are treating the incident as an “attempted murder,” with no suspect identified yet. Just before 9 p.m., a powerful blast damaged the ground floor and injured three people, including a 13-year-old child. Authorities have not named the victims, but French outlet BFMTV and a source close to the investigation, confirmed to AFP, indicate that one injured person was Vadym Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian oligarch. The article says he was influential in Ukraine’s industrial east in the 1990s before falling into disgrace and was sanctioned in 2023 for continuing business dealings in Crimea after Russia’s 2014 annexation. Once known in Dnipro for mall development, his Alef Group portfolio reportedly spans 19 industries, and his fortune was estimated above $300 million in the mid-2010s. The investigation reportedly continues as further details emerge.