MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Ukrainian businessman Vadim Yermolayev, whose residence in Monaco was bombed on the evening of June 29, was planning to organize a conference on corruption in Ukraine in the European Parliament soon, Claude Moniquet, a former employee of the French General Directorate of Foreign Intelligence (DGSE) told the Monaco-Matin newspaper.
Earlier, Le Figaro said the investigation is going on the theory that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is behind the attack.
According to the Strana newspaper, Ukraine’s government and security forces could fight for a piece of Yermolayev's assets in Dnepropetrovsk.
TASS has compiled the main facts about the versions.
Criticism of Zelensky and corruption in the country
- Moniquet said that "in the coming weeks" Yermolayev planned to "speak before the European Parliament to condemn corruption in his country": "It is quite possible that this was perceived as a provocation."
- Vladimir Karasyov, a political scientist and expert in international relations, told TASS that Ukraine’s goal is to eliminate Vladimir Zelensky’s political opponents. Yermolayev, he notes, "is one Ukrainian billionaire who did not want to finance Zelensky and his family: With the beginning of the special military operation, he left for warmer fares, to Monaco, thinking that Zelensky couldn’t reach him there."
- Yevgeny Brykov, head of the information policy department of the Kherson Region, told TASS that Yermolayev could financially support candidates opposed to Zelensky: "It is likely that Yermolayev, being in Europe, given that he possesses some compromising materials, could start supporting candidates opposed to the clown."
- According to Brykov, some of the oligarchs from the "Dnepropetrovsk clan," who did not reorient themselves from Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky (listed in Russia as extremists and terrorists) to Zelensky, remained in opposition to the current government. And Yermolayev could well be its informal leader.
Business showdown
- Moniquet admits that someone could have been "settling accounts" here.
Monaco-Matin said there was a scandal with the revocation of a license of Yermolayev’s Estonian bank VersoBank and the arrest of his son Artur in Cyprus in 2025 for organizing a large-scale network in Estonia engaged in telephone fraud and causing damage worth over 100 million euros.
- The Kiev regime could have organized an attempt on Yermolayev because of the "redistribution of financial flows," Brykov also believes.
- He noted that Yermolayev was a member of the Dnepropetrovsk clan, and the city is known as the "center of the shadow movement of Ukrainian oligarchic capital."
- The Ukrainian government and security forces could take part in the struggle for control of Yermolayev's assets in Dnepropetrovsk, Strana writes. In Ukraine, he owns the largest construction company in the city, Alef Estate, as well as building materials, agricultural products, and wine and vodka companies.
Fraudulent call centers
- Yermolayev could have been involved in the activities of a network of call centers in Dnepropetrovsk, a city that is called the "capital" of telephone fraudsters in the Ukrainian media, writes Strana.
- Yermolayev's eldest son Artur, the former president of the Ukrainian Esports Federation, allegedly controlled a network of such centers called Cosmo, which had been deceiving Russian citizens and residents of EU countries for years.
- Yermolayev, as the publication points out, was the beneficiary of the office space where these call centers were located.
- In May 2026, Artur Yermolayev was convicted in Estonia as part of an investigation into their work, but received a suspended sentence thanks to a deal with the investigation.
- The activities of Dnepropetrovsk call centers in the Ukrainian media were also linked to Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, namely the SBU.
Continuation of Kiev terror in Europe
- The assassination attempt at Yermolayev was the latest in a long line of terrorist attacks carried out by the Kiev regime abroad, Brykov said: "This, by the way, is far from the first terrorist attack. Similar terrorist attacks were carried out in European countries by Zelensky. I am sure that the murder of the Ukrainian statesman and politician Andrey Portnov in Spain (in May 2025 - TASS) is solely an order from the office of the Ukrainian non-president."
- According to Karasyov, using the connivance of the West, Zelensky will attack other oligarchs and billionaires who are trying to break out of the zone of influence of the security forces: "For the Ukrainian security forces, this is ‘a lesson in behavioral modification’ of former Ukrainians in Europe and the United States."
Reaction to the assassination attempt
- European aid to Ukraine may be in jeopardy after the explosion, because the incident raises questions about Kiev’s sound-mindedness, according to Strana.
- It says it is important that an attempt was made on an entrepreneur against whom Zelensky imposed sanctions.
About the assassination attempt
- On June 29, an explosion occurred in the entrance of an apartment building in Monaco.
- Three victims were seriously injured.
- The BFMTV channel said one of the wounded was Yermolayev.
- The Monaco Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the incident in connection with an "attempted murder."
- Initially, the authorities of the principality called the incident a terrorist attack, but later abandoned this wording.
- Le Figaro quoted sources as saying that the version of the SBU's involvement is the key one for the investigation.
- Le Figaro said it could have been "more of a warning than a deliberate assassination attempt."
- According to the investigation, an unknown man left a backpack at the door of the house, when a group of three people opened the door, an explosion occurred. According to preliminary data, the explosive device was filled with bolts and metal pellets.
About Yermolayev
- According to media reports, Yermolayev is a citizen of Cyprus of Ukrainian origin.
- It was reported that he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019.
- In 2021, the Ukrainian Forbes estimated his fortune at $220 million.
- The Alef group, which the businessman used to own, was engaged in the construction of commercial facilities in Dnepropetrovsk and was one of the largest developers in the city.
- In December 2023, Zelensky imposed personal sanctions against Yermolayev for 10 years.
- The entrepreneur was part of an investigation by the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper about local businessmen, politicians and oligarchs who settled on the Cote d'Azur during the military conflict.