Woman suspected in Monaco assassination attempt on Ukrainian businessman found dead near Kyiv. A Ukrainian intelligence officer confessed to her murder.
The body of Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman suspected of carrying out an assassination attempt on Ukrainian businessman Vadym Yermolaiev in Monaco, was found near Kyiv on the evening of July 6. She had been shot.
The attack took place on June 29. A bag containing a bomb was left at the entrance to Yermolaiev’s home in Monaco and exploded as he was entering the building with his girlfriend and his 13-year-old son. All three were injured; his girlfriend lost both legs.
Investigators in Monaco had not ruled out the possibility that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) organized the attempt on Yermolaiev’s life. Le Figaro reported this as early as June 30, noting that the attack appeared to be more of a warning than a deliberate attempt at murder.
A few days later it emerged that investigators had a suspect, and Interpol then published a wanted notice naming her as Anastasiia Berezovska. Monaco’s prosecutor said that after the attack Berezovska walked to the commune of Beausoleil on the French border, picked up a rental car, and fled — passing through France, Italy, and other European countries. Interpol noted that her last known registered address was in Germany.
The Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda was the first to report Berezovska’s killing near Kyiv, citing sources. Within hours, the information was confirmed by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), the Prosecutor General’s office, and the National Police of Ukraine.
The SBU says Berezovska arrived in Ukraine on July 1 and afterward maintained contact with her family and two men — one a former law enforcement officer, the other a serving officer of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR). Their names have not been disclosed.
Investigators established that both men had repeatedly transferred money to Berezovska’s cryptocurrency and bank accounts and began checking them for possible involvement in the Monaco attack. During the investigative proceedings, the HUR officer confessed that he and the second person named in the case had committed the murder and showed investigators where the body was.
Berezovska had been shot in the head multiple times; spent shell casings were found at the scene as well. During a search of the former law enforcement officer’s home, the SBU says investigators found a basement space resembling a “torture room.” Whether this is connected to the murder has not been explained.
The HUR officer who confessed to the murder says he did not inform his superiors about his contacts with Berezovska or the money transfers to her, and that he acted on his own initiative. Why he killed her is not clear.
Both men named in the case were detained on suspicion of committing murder by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.
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