At least three people were injured in what the authorities described as an intentional attack
An explosive device packed with shrapnel seriously injured Ukrainian-born businessman Vadim Ermolaev and two members of his family at the entrance to a residential building in Monaco on Monday evening, according to local media reports.
The explosion occurred shortly before 9:00 PM on Rue Reverend Pere Louis Frolla, a street in the principality near the French border. Investigators believe the device was hidden in a backpack left near the entrance to the building.
Monaco Minister of State Christophe Mirmand told AFP that the device likely contained bolts and buckshot, and indicated that the authorities are treating the blast as a likely terrorist attack.
The authorities have yet to officially confirm the victims’ identities, but sources close to the investigation told BFMTV that they are the family of “major Ukrainian oligarch” Vadim Ermolaev, a businessman born in Dnepropetrovsk in 1968. Before he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019, Forbes ranked him 35th among the country’s 100 richest men.
🇲🇨 ALERTE – Attentat à la bombe ce soir à #Monaco, près de la place des Moulins. Plusieurs victimes.
De nombreux secours convergent sur les lieux.
Un suspect est activement recherché, il a été aperçu sur les caméras de vidéosurveillance en train de déposer un sac à dos. pic.twitter.com/dko4LYev8J— Infos Françaises (@InfosFrancaises) June 29, 2026
Le Figaro also reported that the three victims are all members of Ermolaev’s family. The parents, aged 50 to 60, are reportedly in critical condition; their 13-year-old child is in stable condition.
🇲🇨 ATTENTAT À MONACO : Au moins trois blessés dont deux graves. Le plan rouge a été déclenché. Des sapeurs-pompiers des Alpes-Maritimes ont été appelés en renfort. https://t.co/hv3j2mTur8 pic.twitter.com/GOW0fG8tg3
— Infos Françaises (@InfosFrancaises) June 29, 2026
A suspect was reportedly caught on CCTV leaving the backpack near the entrance just as several people were entering the building, before fleeing on foot toward Beausoleil, a French commune bordering Monaco. A manhunt was launched after the blast, and the suspect is still at large.
The explosion was powerful enough to be heard several blocks away. The authorities also activated the ‘red plan’, an emergency response protocol used in the event of a sudden incident causing multiple casualties.
“This is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has occurred in the Principality,” Mirmand said. Eric Ciotti, the mayor of neighboring Nice, described the incident as an attack.
“The attack carried out this evening is a tragedy that strikes Monaco,” Ciotti wrote in a post on X. “Thoughts for the victims, their families, and the people of Monaco. Total support for the security forces and emergency services mobilized.”
