“Bolt From Explosive Device Lodged in His Leg.”

The explosion in Monaco was caused by the detonation of a booby-trapped parcel, the principality’s government said. “...A powerful explosion rang out in the principality, near Place des Moulins, caused by an explosive device planted in a parcel,” the statement said.

The government noted that 50 firefighters and 12 pieces of special equipment, as well as 84 police officers, were involved in responding to the aftermath. In the building where the explosion occurred, six vacant apartments were inspected and brought under control.

According to the French outlet Nice-Matin, the wife of the oligarch from Dnipro suffered a traumatic amputation of her legs. The injured businessman, described as having “a questionable reputation” and as having lived in the principality for 10 years, suffered burns and shrapnel wounds from a bomb planted outside his home. Journalists reported that the oligarch was seen on a stretcher during evacuation to a hospital in Nice.

The woman who was next to Yermolaiev suffered severe leg injuries in the explosion. She was rushed to a hospital in Nice and underwent an amputation. Another injured person, the couple’s son, was also urgently hospitalized in Nice. “He was thrown back by the blast wave, suffered burns and bruises. And apparently, a bolt from the explosive device lodged in his leg,” the publication said. Two other people were taken to the emergency department in a state of shock.

Monaco prosecutors said the explosion of a homemade bomb outside a residential building was not a “terrorist attack.” “This attack cannot be classified as terrorist,” the principality’s prosecutor general, Stéphane Thibault, said at a briefing. According to him, a case was opened on charges of “attempted murder” and “placing explosives or explosive devices in a public place.”

The prosecutor noted that law enforcement officers are searching for the sole suspect in the attack. “We have not detained him yet, but together with the French authorities we are searching for him in order to identify and arrest him as soon as possible. Given the available resources, I hope this will happen fairly quickly,” Thibault said. He noted that the life of the woman injured in the explosion remains in danger, and two of the wounded are in critical condition. In addition, the prosecutor mentioned “two other indirect victims” injured by shards of glass from shop windows.

At the same time, Stéphane Thibault did not confirm the identities of the victims, or that one of them was Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev. He said only that the man had lived in Monaco since at least 2021. “As far as we know, he is not wanted by any foreign authorities,” the prosecutor general said. According to him, the life of the seriously wounded man is no longer in danger. BFMTV reports that police were not aware of any threats against him.