Suspect linked to Monaco bomb attack on millionaire breaks silence to BBC

What the report says

BBC World News reports that Vitalii Zhykovych, a former Ukrainian security-services officer accused in connection with the Monaco bomb attack on businessman Vadym Yermolayev, has spoken publicly for the first time from prison in Kyiv. In an interview arranged through his lawyer, Zhykovych said he believed the operation was ordered by senior figures in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, HUR, while also trying to distance himself from the blast and from the death of a woman alleged to have planted the device.

The attack took place in Monaco in June, when Yermolayev, his 13-year-old son and his partner were badly hurt as they returned from dinner. BBC says a surveillance video shows Anastasia Berezovska leaving a bag containing the bomb near the family’s home before the explosion. She later fled through several European countries and was found dead in woods near Kyiv with gunshot wounds, before she could be questioned by police. Zhykovych and an active-duty intelligence officer, Vladyslav Reut, have both been linked to her killing, with each accusing the other.

Zhykovych told the BBC that Reut, whom he called “the Boss,” proposed the Monaco operation and said it had been approved by superiors. He also claimed Reut later directed Berezovska separately. HUR has said it is committed to a full investigation, while the SBU has referred to Zhykovych only as a former law enforcement officer.

The case has drawn attention because it raises questions about whether the attack was a state-backed assassination, a rogue operation or something else. Yermolayev has denied wrongdoing and said he wants truth and justice, while his family and Berezovska’s relatives remain without clear answers.