Overview
- A booby‑trapped package exploded in the lobby of a Monaco apartment building on Monday evening, wounding a man, his partner and a 13‑year‑old who were taken to hospitals in Nice with the woman in critical condition.
- Monégasque officials said the device contained bolts and buckshot and that investigators are treating the blast as a deliberate attempted murder rather than a terrorism case.
- Video surveillance shows a man leaving a bag and fleeing on foot toward the French town of Beausoleil, and Monaco and French authorities have launched a joint manhunt with dozens of police, helicopters and forensic teams.
- Multiple outlets and an investigation source reported that the wounded man is Ukrainian‑born businessman Vadym Yermolaiev, who renounced Ukrainian citizenship, holds Cypriot nationality and was placed under Ukrainian sanctions in December 2023; authorities are probing whether his background or other personal or criminal links explain the attack.
- The attack has shocked the normally secure microstate and is likely to prompt tighter protections for residents and closer Franco‑Monégasque policing and intelligence cooperation as investigators search for motive and the suspect.