Monaco attack suspect shot dead in Ukraine: Police

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — A woman suspected of carrying out a bomb attack in Monaco was found shot dead in Ukraine, police said Tuesday, adding that a serving intelligence officer and an accomplice had been detained on suspicion of her murder.

Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, was wanted by Interpol for the attempted murder of a Ukrainian-born tycoon, his partner and teenage son in a parcel bombing attack last month that shocked the wealthy microstate.

In a statement, Ukraine’s national police said officers had “detained two individuals on suspicion of murdering a woman who was wanted by Interpol,” adding that the body belonged to “Ukrainian citizen Anastasiia Berezovska.”

The intelligence officer “reported the murder” during a search, police said, without elaborating.

“He also stated that he had not informed his superiors about his contacts with Berezovska, the transfers of money to her, or any of his other actions, and that he had acted at his own discretion,” police added.

Berezovska’s body was found “with gunshot wounds to the head,” police said.

Investigators found the suspects had made cryptocurrency transfers to her and were examining them “as persons potentially involved in the attempted murder in Monaco.”

During searches at the house of the accomplice, a former law enforcement officer, “a basement premises resembling a torture room was also discovered,” police said.

All findings in the case were provided to the Monaco authorities, Ukraine’s police said.

Monaco did not confirm the victims’ identities, but according to several sources, the attack targeted Vadym Yermolaiev, 58, a wealthy businessman originally from Ukraine and now a Cypriot national, as well as his partner and his 13-year-old son.

The bombing sent shock waves through Monaco, a microstate near Nice in southern France that is a playground of the world’s ultra-rich. Prince Albert II has described the attack as a “heinous crime."—

By Agence France-Presse