A Ukrainian woman described as ‘armed and dangerous’ has emerged as the prime suspect behind a bomb explosion in Monaco that critically wounded an oligarch from her own countr and his mistress.
Monaco’s Prosecutor General, Stéphane Thibault, confirmed on Thursday that the suspect behind the attack is a Ukrainian woman in her 30s, currently registered as living in Germany.
He said: ‘An arrest warrant has been issued for the suspect, who will be the subject of an Interpol Red Notice starting this evening.’
A senior investigating source suggested the woman had ‘attempted to look like a man’ during the attack, but a witness identified her.
He said she was likely to be on the run with accomplices in Italy, but might have made her way as far as the Balkans.
The prime suspect is said to have targeted billionaire Vadym Yermolaiev, 58, his mistress, Anna Nasobina, 46, and their young son on Monday night.
The woman – who has not yet been named publicly – was filmed outside the ‘Sun’s Palace’ – a lavish apartment block owned by Mr Yermolaiev.
It was in the foyer, just before 9pm, that a dumped rucksack exploded after the woman triggered it using a mobile phone.
The entrance of the residential building in Monaco where an explosion happened on Monday
Anna Nasobina (above) is in a ‘serious condition’ fighting for her life, and her millionaire lover, Vadym Yermolaiev, and their son were also wounded after an explosion in Monaco on Monday
Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev, 58, was reportedly with his London-based lover, not his wife, when he was wounded
Ms Nasobina had both her legs amputated following the blast, while both she and Mr Yermolaiev suffered severe shrapnel wounds and burns.
‘The prime suspect was identified by a witness,’ said an investigating source. ‘She is a Ukrainian woman in her 30s.’
Footage from nearby surveillance cameras showed the woman wearing a black bucket hat fleeing on foot across the border to France, where there are no checkpoints.
She headed into the French town of Beausoleil, and then made her way to Italy, investigators believe.
‘She is armed and dangerous, and thought to be in the company of accomplices,’ said the source. ‘She should be approached with extreme caution.’
Judicial authorities in both France and Monaco have opened a criminal enquiry for ‘attempted murder’, ‘the planting of an explosive device on a public road with criminal intent’ and ‘criminal conspiracy.’
Cameras first picked up the suspect in the area on Monday morning, before she returned to place the bomb, according to the same security sources.
She is thought to have been ‘around 12 meters away’ when she triggered the device, said one.
A suspect captured fleeing the scene on CCTV
Pictured: Monaco’s emergency services near the area of the explosion on Monday
The wounded boy has made a rapid recovery, and is currently providing evidence to police and prosecutors.
‘He is telling them exactly what he saw, although clearly his memory is very blurred,’ said a security source.
‘It appears that his mother took the full force of the blast, while he suffered relatively minor burns and shrapnel injuries.’
Ms Nasobina has been described in the past as Yermolaiev’s ‘common law wife’.
She is a Ukrainian national who comes from Yermolaiev’s home city of Dnipro, while spending a lot of time in England.
Nasobina describes herself as ‘London-based’ and is listed as a director of Wycombe Square Investments LLP in London since 2023, but frequently resides in Monaco, particularly during the summer.
She is also the daughter of the former first deputy state prosecutor of Dnipropetrovsk region.
Nasobina studied law at Dnipropetrovsk National University, followed by an International Institute of Management, before relocating to London.
Shards of glass on a damaged window of a residential building, following the explosion on Monday
Monaco police officers patrol near the site of the explosion
She is a co-founder of Club Eclectique, a private members’ and literary-arts society registered in Oxford Street with a linked Monaco office. It was established in 2016.
The club’s events feature Russian entertainers with pro-Kremlin ties, and attendees include members of the Moscow diaspora in London.
One 2017 event she hosted, in honour of ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev, saw guests including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Yasmin Mills, designer Julien Macdonald, party queen Jo Wood, singer Camilla Kerslake and actress Camilla Rutherford attend.
In turn, Yermolaiev’s wife, Anna Yermolaiev, uses a high-security family villa in St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the nearby French Riviera resort town which is the second most expensive residential location in the world, after Monaco.
It is likely that the suspect was using a so-called burner phone – one that can be bought relatively cheaply, without providing any kind of identification.
Such phones are frequently used by lawbreakers, and then disposed of once a crime has been committed.
Stéphane Thibault, the Monaco prosecutor who is leading the investigation in Monte Carlo, said: ‘We are attempting to arrest the suspect.’
Police and French Army helicopters with searchlights and numerous drones have all been seen in the search zone over the days and nights since the attack.
Nasobina describes herself as ‘London-based’ and has been the director of UK company Wycombe Square Investments LLP since 2023
While there are theories that Ukraine’s SBU security service may have been behind the bombing, ‘a settling of scores’ by gangsters is currently the favoured line of investigation.
The blast signalled the first attack of its kind ever to take place on the so-called Rock tax haven, which is less than two miles square and considered neutral territory.
Mr Yermolaiev had made multiple enemies over the years, and one of the reasons he moved to Monaco was because of the security it was meant to provide.
Seyar Kurshutov, a Ukrainian businessman from Crimea, who now spends a lot of time in Monaco, said his friend was ‘obsessed with security’.
Kurshutov told Le Monde: ‘Vadym was living on a razor’s edge.’
Reports in France on Wednesday suggested that investigators are examining the possible involvement of the Security Service of Ukraine [SBU] in the suspected assassination bid, which left Yermolaiev, Nasobina and their son wounded.
The blast may have been a ‘warning’ rather than a deliberate attempt at murder.
Ukrainian police said previously that the oligarch may have been blown up over his alleged links to a suspected €100million call centre fraud scheme.
Police sources claimed that the violent attack is thought to be linked to a network of fraudulent call centres in Dnipro, Ukraine, allegedly used to carry out large-scale financial scams across Europe. The Yermolaiev family is alleged to have played a significant role in the scheme.
In late 2025, Artur Yermolaiev — 35, and Vadym Yermolaiev’s eldest son—was arrested in Cyprus for his role in the estimated £100million scheme.
Extradited to Estonia, where approximately 500 clients lost around £5million each, he was sentenced to five years in prison, with four months to be served behind bars.
‘He now lives in Israel,’ said Seyar Kurshutov.
Igor Komarov—a 28-year-old businessman involved in the call centres racket—was kidnapped, tortured, killed, and dismembered while on holiday in Bali, Indonesia, in March 2026.
Another security source said: ‘The killers have never been found. This gives an idea of the kind of enemies Yermolaiev is up against.’
Meanwhile, Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported that the attempted assassination was thought to have stemmed from a suspected failed agreement to divide territory and unpaid debts allegedly owed to organised crime bosses in Dnipro.
Like many oligarchs who became rich following the fall of the Soviet Union, Yermolaiev has faced accusations of criminality, including money laundering, which he denies.
Responding to reports linking him to ‘boiler room’ fraud, Theo Koshlyakov, the businessman’s legal assistant in Monaco, said: ‘To date, no legal proceedings have been initiated against Mr Yermolaiev in any jurisdiction’.
Yermolaiev has been living in the principality since 2021, according to reports.
In 2019, he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and obtained a Cypriot passport, and in December 2023, he was subjected to personal sanctions by Kyiv.
France is assisting in a search for the suspect. An aide to France’s Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, said yesterday that police were working ‘to find the perpetrator, who has fled’.
There was a claim in the Nice-Matin news outlet that Yermolaiev planned to deliver a speech to the European Parliament alleging corruption in Ukraine.
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