Suspect’s Body Found with Gunshot Wounds

Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, was found dead in a forest in the Kyiv region with gunshot wounds to the head, as the SBU confirmed that her body was discovered after a cross-border manhunt had been launched following the attack on 29 June.

Berezovska arrived in Ukraine two days after the bombing on 1 July, according to the SBU, which cited law enforcement sources in its statement.

Detentions and Confessions

Two people. Including a current officer within Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), have been detained on suspicion of murder. The intelligence officer reportedly confessed to Berezovska’s murder, stating he had done so with “another suspect.” Both suspects were detained on suspicion of committing murder with premeditation by a group of individuals.

The SBU said Berezovska had communicated with her family and two men after entering Ukraine – a former law enforcement officer and a current officer in the MoD’s main intelligence directorate. These two men were investigated as possible accomplices in the Monaco attack based on information that they repeatedly transferred funds to Berezovska’s “crypto and bank accounts.”

Investigation and Cooperation

An investigation is ongoing with the “personal assistance” of the head of the intelligence directorate Oleg Ivashchenko, but During a search of the former law enforcement officer’s home in the Kyiv region, a basement room “resembling a torture chamber” was also found.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general said it had “no evidence” the room had been involved in Berezovska’s case and that it “simply reflect[s] the profile of one of the suspects.” His office released a video of the room, which showed a mat dotted with what appear to be small spots of blood. Two axes. A pickaxe, tarpaulin spread on the floor, and a large bag are also visible.

Monaco’s deputy prosecutor Morgan Raymond said Berezovska had spent days casing out the residence and was “disguised as a man” during the attack last Monday, though Three people were injured, two of them seriously, when a package exploded just as they entered the building shortly after 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT).

Berezovska was believed to have fled in a hire car to Italy and onwards to Germany – where special forces searched an apartment rented by a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman “currently on the run” in the central state of Hesse on Thursday, police said. Interpol issued a red notice alerting police worldwide that she was a fugitive wanted for attempted murder, placing an explosive device on a public road with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy on Friday.

The SBU said Ukrainian authorities had shared all available information with officials in Monaco, with whom its prosecutor general was in “close co-operation.” Law enforcement authorities were working to identify “other suspects” in the attack, it added.

Authorities in Monaco have not confirmed the victims’ identities, but local media reported Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner, and his 13-year-old son had been targeted, as Yermolaiev, a real estate developer, was named the 39th richest Ukrainian by Forbes magazine in 2020 with a reported fortune of $230m (£173.8m).

He has major interests in wine and alcohol in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and has been the subject of sanctions imposed by the government in Kyiv since 2023. He is a Cypriot citizen. Having renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019, and has been living in Monaco.

Correction – 7 July 2026: An earlier version of this story said investigators believed Anastasiia Berezovska had been held in a basement belonging to one of the suspects. Ukrainian authorities later clarified there was no evidence the room was involved in Berezovska’s murder, and they had released footage of it “to reflect the profile of one of the suspects.”