A Ukrainian court has detained two men accused of murdering a woman wanted in connection with an attempted assassination of a multimillionaire in Monaco. According to Reuters and Al Jazeera, the ongoing saga has rattled officials in Kyiv and drawn international scrutiny, as the motives behind both the initial bombing and the subsequent killing of the primary suspect remain shrouded in mystery. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed on Thursday that a Kyiv court ordered both defendants to be held without bail pending further investigation.
The two men in custody include a serving and decorated officer in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as the GUR, and a former law enforcement officer. Ukrainian authorities discovered the body of 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska earlier this week. She had sustained gunshot wounds to the head, and investigators recovered spent cartridges at the scene. Interpol had named Berezovska just last week as a key suspect in a June 29 bomb attack that targeted Vadym Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian-born businessman. The blast, which occurred in a residential building in Monaco on the border with France, left Yermolaiev, his son, and his partner seriously wounded.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has promised to release additional reports regarding the case as the investigation continues to unfold. The target of the initial attack, Yermolaiev, is a property mogul who has been under Ukrainian sanctions since 2023 due to his continued business dealings in Russian-occupied Crimea. Local media reports indicate that Yermolaiev has renounced his Ukrainian citizenship for Cypriot nationality and has not resided in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Monaco authorities had previously charged Berezovska with attempted murder, placing an explosive device in public with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy. Court proceedings revealed that Berezovska arrived in Ukraine by bus from Poland only two days after the explosion in Monaco. Investigators were able to trace the suspect using digital evidence, specifically cryptocurrency transfers, which ultimately led them to the two men now in custody.
The legal proceedings have been marked by conflicting statements. Initially, suspected intelligence officer Vladyslav Reut confessed to shooting Berezovska and led investigators to her burial site. However, during Thursday’s court session, Reut retracted his earlier confession. He accused his co-defendant, Vitalli Zhykovych, of firing the shots that killed Berezovska. Reut claimed that his previous admission was made under duress and out of fear. Prosecutors state that the underlying motives for the murder remain under active investigation as the legal process moves forward.
