A Ukrainian military intelligence officer has confessed to killing the woman wanted over the Monaco bombing, according to Ukraine’s Security Service, in a dramatic escalation of an already extraordinary international investigation.
Anastasiia Berezovska, the 39-year-old Ukrainian woman named by Interpol as the main suspect in the bombing near Place des Moulins, was found dead near Kyiv with gunshot wounds to the head. She had been wanted by Monaco authorities in connection with the June 29 attack, which injured Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner and a 13-year-old child.
Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU, said on Tuesday that an officer serving in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency confessed to killing Berezovska with the help of a former law enforcement officer. According to the SBU, the officer claimed he acted on his own initiative and without informing his superiors. (WRAL News)
Both men have reportedly been detained on suspicion of premeditated murder. Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed a final motive for Berezovska’s killing, and the wider circumstances remain under investigation. (WRAL News)
The confession raises new questions about whether Berezovska was acting alone when the Monaco bomb was planted, and whether her death was intended to silence a key suspect before she could be questioned by Monaco investigators.
Reuters reports that both detained men are also being examined over possible links to the Monaco bombing itself. Ukrainian investigators are reportedly working with Monaco authorities to establish who may have organised the attack and whether others were involved. (Reuters)
The Monaco bombing took place at the entrance of a residential building on Rue Révérend Père Louis Frolla, close to the border with Beausoleil. Prosecutors have treated the case as attempted murder rather than terrorism.
Berezovska was previously named in an Interpol Red Notice and wanted on allegations including attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place and criminal conspiracy. Monaco investigators said she had allegedly disguised herself as a man and carried out reconnaissance before the device was remotely detonated. (AP News)
The death of the prime suspect means investigators may now have lost the person most likely to explain how the Monaco attack was planned and who, if anyone, ordered it. However, the confession from a serving intelligence officer may open an entirely new line of inquiry.
For Monaco, the investigation has now moved far beyond a local attempted murder case. It has become a cross-border investigation involving Interpol, Ukrainian security services, German searches, possible accomplices and now the alleged killing of the prime suspect herself.
No official motive has yet been confirmed for either the Monaco bombing or Berezovska’s death.
This remains a developing story.