The murky case surrounding the recent bombing in Monaco has taken a dramatic and embarrassing turn for Ukraine, with one of the prime suspects in the attack — a woman named Anastasiia Berezovska — found shot dead in a forest near Kyiv, allegedly murdered by a serving officer from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR).
Berezovska, 39, was captured on CCTV in late June disguised as a man, leaving a rucksack containing an explosive device outside a luxury apartment building in Monaco. The bomb detonated as Ukrainian-born oligarch Vadym Iermolaiev, his partner, and their 13-year-old child exited the building, injuring all three. She then fled through France and Italy before returning to Ukraine on July 1.
Just days later, her body was discovered in woods west of Kyiv with multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Ukrainian authorities quickly arrested two men: Vladyslav Reut, a 33-year-old officer in Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence (who confessed to participating in the killing), and Vitaliy Zhykovych, a former Kyiv region policeman. Reut claimed Zhykovych fired the fatal shots while he stood nearby, and both men had previously made multiple bank and cryptocurrency payments to Berezovska.
The connection to Ukraine’s GUR has raised serious questions about possible state involvement — or at least rogue elements within the intelligence services — in both the Monaco attack and the swift elimination of the suspect. French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Zelenskyy to fully investigate and punish those responsible.
The targeted oligarch, Vadym Iermolaiev, was previously sanctioned by Ukraine for allegedly continuing business ties in Russian-occupied Crimea. While some sources suggest the bombing may stem from a criminal dispute over “protection money” rather than pure politics, the involvement of a GUR officer has turned the case into an international headache for Kyiv at a sensitive time.
The whole affair leaves plenty of uncomfortable questions: How did Berezovska re-enter Ukraine so easily? Was she working alone in Monaco? And just how “independent” were these intelligence-linked killers? Ukraine’s reputation for shadowy operations just got another layer of murk.
