'Armed and dangerous' Ukrainian woman is main suspect in Monaco explosion that left oligarch, his mistress and son fighting for their lives

By PETER ALLEN and ELEANOR MANN Published: 22:07, 2 July 2026 | Updated: 22:28, 2 July 2026 An 'armed and dangerous' Ukrainian woman is the prime suspect behind a bomb explosion in Monaco that critically wounded an oligarch from her own country, his son and his mistress, it has emerged tonight.  Interpol, the international police organisation, is preparing to produce a Most Wanted red notice for the 30-something attacker after issuing an arrest warrant.  She is said to have targeted billionaire Vadym Yermolaiev, 58, his mistress, Anna Nasobina, 46, and their young son on Monday night.  The woman – who has not yet been named publicly – was filmed outside the 'Sun's Palace' – a lavish apartment block owned by Mr Yermolaiev.  It was in the foyer, just before 9pm, that a dumped rucksack exploded after the woman triggered it using a mobile phone.  Ms Nasobina had her legs amputated following the blast, while both she and Mr Yermolaiev suffered severe shrapnel wounds and burns.  'The prime suspect was identified by a witness,' said an investigating source. 'She is a Ukrainian woman in her thirties.'  Footage from nearby surveillance cameras showed the woman wearing a black bucket hat fleeing on foot across the border to France, where there are no checkpoints.  The entrance of the residential building in Monaco where an explosion happened on Monday Anna Nasobina (above) is in a 'serious condition' fighting for her life, and her millionaire lover, Vadym Yermolaiev, and their son were also wounded after an explosion in Monaco on Monday Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev, 58, was reportedly with his London-based lover, not his wife, when he was wounded She headed into the French town of Beausoleil, and then made her way to Italy, investigators believe. 'She is armed and dangerous, and thought to be in the company of accomplices,' said the source. 'She should be approached with extreme caution.' Judicial authorities in both France and Monaco have opened a criminal enquiry for 'attempted murder', 'the planting of an explosive device on a public road with criminal intent' and 'criminal conspiracy.' Cameras first picked up the suspect in the area on Monday morning, before she returned to place the bomb, according to the same security sources. She is thought to have been 'around 12 meters away' when she triggered the device, said one. The wounded boy has made a rapid recovery, and is currently providing evidence to police and prosecutors. 'He is telling them exactly what he saw, although clearly his memory is very blurred,' said a security source. 'It appears that his mother took the full force of the blast, while he suffered relatively minor burns and shrapnel injuries.' The suspect captured fleeing the scene on CCTV Pictured: Monaco's emergency services near the area of the explosion on Monday Shards of glass on a damaged window of a residential building, following the explosion on Monday Ms Nasobina has been described in the past as Yermolaiev's common law wife.  She is a Ukrainian national who comes from Yermolaiev's home city of Dnipro, while spending a lot of time in England.  Nasobina is listed as a director of Wycombe Square Investments LLP in London, but was frequently in Monaco, particularly during the summer. In turn, Yermolaiev's wife, Anna Yermolaiev, uses a high-security family villa in St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the nearby French Riviera resort town which is the second most expensive residential location in the world, after Monaco. It is likely that the suspect was using a so-called burner phone – one that can be bought relatively cheaply, without providing any kind of identification. Such phones are frequently used by lawbreakers, and then disposed of once a crime has been committed. Stéphane Thibault, the Monaco prosecutor who is leading the investigation in Monte Carlo, said: 'We are attempting to arrest the suspect.' Police and French Army helicopters with searchlights and numerous drones have all been seen in the search zone over the days and nights since the attack. While there are theories that Ukraine's SBU security service may have been behind the bombing, 'a settling of scores' by gangsters is currently the favoured line of investigation. The blast signalled the first attack of its kind ever to take place on the so-called Rock tax haven, which is less than two-miles square and considered neutral territory. Mr Yermolaiev had made multiple enemies over the years, and one of the reasons he moved to Monaco was because of the security it was meant to provide. Seyar Kurshutov, a Ukrainian businessman from Crimea, who now spends a lot of time in Monaco said his friend was 'obsessed with security'. Kurshutov told Le Monde: 'Vadim was living on a razor's edge.' Some of Yermolaiev's most powerful enemies were made through a racket involving fake call centres. In late 2025, Artur Yermolaiev — 35, and Vadim Yermolaiev's eldest son—was arrested in Cyprus for his role in the estimated £100m scheme. Extradited to Estonia, where approximately 500 clients lost around £5million each, he was sentenced to five years in prison, with four months to be served behind bars. 'He now lives in Israel,' said Seyar Kurshutov. Igor Komarov—a 28-year-old businessman involved in the call centres racket—was kidnapped, tortured, killed, and dismembered while on holiday in Bali, Indonesia, in March 2026. Another security source said: 'The killers have never been found. This gives an idea of the kind of enemies Yermolaiev is up against.' 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