Suspect in Kyiv jail reveals who proposed bombing of oligarch in Monaco

A former Ukrainian security service officer, who was one of the accused linked to a bomb attack on an oligarch in Monaco, claimed that he believed the attack was authorised by senior figures in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, according to a report.Vitalii Zhykovych, who remains in prison in Kyiv, has spoken for the first time since being arrested and denied allegations that he was linked to the attack.Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolayev, 58, his 13-year-old son, and a woman were injured on 29 June when an explosive was remotely detonated in a targeted attack near the French border.The main suspect identified was Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman who allegedly disguised herself as a man. She fled to France and an Interpol Red Notice was issued, but Berezovska's body was discovered in the woods west of Kyiv with gunshot wounds to the head a week later.CCTV footage shows a person walking past a luxury apartment complex, moments before the parcel bomb attack in Monaco that wounded Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner and teenage son. (AFP/Getty)Vladyslav Reut, an active-duty intelligence officer in Ukraine's military intelligence agency, was arrested and accused of her murder and he identified Mr Zhykovych as his accomplice.Mr Zhykovych told the BBC in an interview that Mr Reut, who was his “the boss”, had proposed the operation in Monaco against the oligarch."As Reut informed me, this operation […] had been authorised and approved by Reut's superiors, who served in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence [HUR]," he said.He denied involvement in planting the bomb or killing the woman filmed placing the explosive device in Monaco.Mr Reut has told the court that Mr Zhykovych was responsible for the cold-blooded murder of the woman, who they took at gunpoint to a forest near the village of Yuriv, 60km (40 miles) west of the capital.“Zhykovych fired the first shot at her in the back of the head. She fell down. He came up and fired another shot. I was standing a few metres away at that moment,” Mr Reut told the judge.Mr Zhykovych claimed that Mr Reut had wanted to use Berezovska to carry out the bombing but agreed to send her on a reconnaissance mission instead after he objected, arguing that she had not been fully trained.One of the suspects in the murder of a woman accused of organising an assassination plot in Monaco (C) sits in the dock as they attend a court hearing in Kyiv on July 9, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP/Getty)He said that Mr Reut then communicated directly with the woman and also allegedly provided her with the explosives.HUR has not commented on the latest allegations but said it is "committed to a full investigation" and providing "comprehensive support" to law enforcement bodies.Mr Zhykovych alleged in his interview that Mr Reut told him the bombing was retaliation for Mr Yermolayev allegedly “funding the annexation of Crimea”, which he understood to refer to taxes paid to Russia by businesses operating in occupied Crimea.“In my view, this constitutes grounds for the operation,” he said from prison.Mr Zhykovych’s lawyer Anatoliy Ivanov told CNN in August his client believed he was working on a secret mission for the Ukrainian intelligence services. Ukrainian officials have denied the claim.Mr Yermolayev has denied business interests linked to Russia.Vadym Iermolaiev or Yermolayev, Ukrainian-born businessman injured along with his wife and child in Monaco bomb attack (Social media)Mr Yermolayev, who was born and raised in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017 and is now solely a Cypriot citizen. The real estate developer, 58, is a controversial figure in Ukraine and was sanctioned by Kyiv for alleged collaboration with Russia, accusations he has fiercely denied.Ukraine’s SBU security agency said he had been trading alcohol in Russian-occupied Crimea and had paid millions in taxes to the Russian treasury, leading to his assets being frozen.