V. Jermolajevo’s legs are still heavily bandaged, and a small scar is visible next to his eye – the businessman still feels the consequences of the injuries he sustained, but his condition is improving.
The Ukrainian billionaire, who, along with his family, was the target of a bomb attack in Monaco on June 29, spoke to CNN journalists after being discharged from the hospital.
He described in detail the attack, during which his partner was seriously injured, her condition remains critical, as well as their 13-year-old son.
How it happened
On June 29, just before 9 p.m., an explosion thundered at the entrance to his home in Monaco. At that time, he and his family had just returned from dinner on the beach.
“When the explosion happened, my mind went blank. For a moment, I thought the electronic keys in my hand had exploded. But then I saw my injured partner collapsed on the stairs. My thirteen-year-old son was waving with bloody hands. Panic set in. My own body was covered with burns, chunks of flesh were missing,” the businessman recalled on CNN.
Who attempted on Jermolajevo?
The businessman, who has been under sanctions by Ukraine since 2023 for alleged collaboration with Russia, says he still cannot explain why anyone would want to kill him.
“I don’t understand,” he says. “I have never had enemies. I am not a confrontational person, I have always tried to avoid sharp disputes. I don’t understand the reason.”
Asked about reports of his son’s connections with criminal organizations involved in online fraud, he added: “I don’t even know how to use a computer. I only know how to use a phone.”
Family motive dismissed
While speculation about the motives for the attempt continues, V. Jermolajevo says investigators also questioned him about a possible family conflict.
“The Monaco police also asked me if my family could be involved. It sounded almost ridiculous because all my assets are already registered in the names of my wife and children,” he says.
“I can’t even imagine that the Ukrainian state would be involved. I think the caught agent is a ‘black sheep’ acting for money,” says V. Jermolajevo.
The mastermind behind the attack remains unknown. Investigations continue both in Monaco and Ukraine.
Jermolajevo: the bomber was just a “manipulated pawn”
Despite the explosion that nearly killed him and his family members, V. Jermolajevo expressed sympathy for Anastasia Berezovska, whom Monaco investigators identified as the woman who planted the bomb.
She was later found shot dead in Ukraine. The businessman describes her as a “manipulated pawn.”
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“She was not the main player in this story. I think she was just a naive and foolish executor who was made to believe in one way or another that she was doing something important and grand,” he told CNN.
V. Jermolajevo does not believe that A. Berezovska could have acted alone and suspects she was killed to silence her.
“It is unlikely that A. Berezovska watched me for four months and organized everything on her own on site – that’s unrealistic,” he says.
Therefore, the main question remains unanswered for V. Jermolajevo.
“The most important task today is to identify the mastermind behind the crime.”
What happened
15min reminds that on June 29, around 9 p.m., an explosion thundered in Monaco, injuring three people, two of whom suffered very serious injuries.
Sources in the business community reported at the time to the publication “Ukrainska Pravda” that the incident involved the Ukrainian businessman V. Jermolajevo, who was under sanctions, and his relatives.
On July 3, Interpol issued an international search warrant for 39-year-old Ukrainian citizen Anastasia Berezovska. According to Monaco law enforcement, she was suspected of planting the explosive device that seriously injured V. Jermolajevo and his relatives.
On July 7, it was revealed that A. Berezovska was found murdered and buried near Kyiv.
According to sources close to the investigation cited by “Ukrainska Pravda,” investigators believe that the organizers of the terrorist act in Monaco are precisely those who led the suspect A. Berezovska, suspected of organizing the attempt on V. Jermolajevo – Vitaliy Zhykovyč and Vladyslav Reut.
Reports say it was not his official wife who lost her legs
15min reminds that the wife of the Ukrainian oligarch seriously injured in Monaco stated that she is not the woman who, as previously reported, lost both legs in the explosion.
Initially, it was reported that the seriously injured woman was V. Jermolajevo’s wife Ana and that both her legs were amputated due to the injuries, according to the Ukrainian publication “Ukrainska Pravda.”
However, later A. Jermolajeva herself denied this information and said that she and her husband were not present during the attack.
The portal theweek.in wrote that the woman who lost her legs was Vadym’s mistress Ana Nasobina, who was with him at the time.
