An assassination attempt in the ultra-wealthy enclave of Monaco is strange enough. But when the prime suspect ends up dead near Kyiv with a bullet in her head—and an active Ukrainian military intelligence officer confesses to the execution—you’re looking at an international geopolitical mess.
If you've been tracking the bizarre explosion that rocked Monaco last week, the story just shattered into pieces. Anastasiia Berezovska, the 39-year-old Ukrainian woman hunted by Interpol for the bombing, was found dead late Monday night. The details leaking out of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) read less like standard police briefs and more like a grim spy thriller.
Here is exactly what happened, why the narrative of a "rogue officer" is raising serious eyebrows, and what this means for Ukraine's standing with its Western allies.
The Hit on the Monaco Battalion
To understand why Berezovska died, you have to look at who she allegedly tried to kill. On June 29, a sophisticated, remote-controlled bomb ripped through the entrance of a luxury residential building in Monaco. The blast targeted 58-year-old Vadym Iermolaiev (also spelled Yermolaiev), a Ukrainian-born business tycoon.
Iermolaiev wasn’t just any wealthy expat. He is a billionaire who renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019 for a Cypriot passport. More importantly, Kyiv slapped heavy sanctions on him in 2023. The allegation? He kept running business operations in Russian-occupied Crimea. Ukrainian media openly mock people like him as part of the "Monaco battalion"—a group of ultra-rich oligarchs who fled the war to live in Mediterranean luxury while their home country burns.
The bomb didn't kill him, but it caused chaos. Iermolaiev, his girlfriend, and their teenage son were all injured. Monaco’s Prince Albert II publicly fumed, calling the explosion an "odious act" in a principality that prides itself on airtight security.
Monaco investigators quickly pulled surveillance tape and identified Berezovska. She had disguised herself as a man to plant the device, fled on foot into France, and drove a rental car with German plates through Italy and back to Germany, where she had been living. By Friday, Interpol slapped her with a Red Notice for attempted murder and criminal conspiracy.
Then she made a fatal mistake. She went back to Ukraine.
Dead in a Trench and a Blood-Stained Basement
Berezovska crossed back into Ukraine on July 1. Within days, she was dead.
Ukrainian law enforcement discovered her body around 9:00 PM on Monday in a rural area near Kyiv. She had multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Investigators found spent pistol cartridges scattered around her corpse.
What makes this terrifying isn’t just the execution; it’s who pulled the trigger. The SBU arrested two men:
- An active-duty officer in Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate (HUR).
- A former law enforcement officer.
According to the prosecutor-general’s office, the active HUR officer cracked during interrogation. He confessed to executing Berezovska alongside his accomplice.
The SBU had originally flagged these two men because they traced massive cryptocurrency and bank transfers from their accounts to Berezovska. They weren't just her executioners; they were her bank.
If that isn't dark enough, the raids on the suspects' properties uncovered something deeply unsettling. In the home of the former law enforcement officer, police found a hidden basement rigged up as a torture chamber. Photos and videos released by prosecutors show a bleak room with axes, hatchets, and a heavy green tarpaulin laid out across the floor.
The Rogue Officer Defense Looks Incredibly Thin
Right now, the official line from the HUR officer is pure damage control. He claims he acted entirely on his "own initiative." He insists he never told his superiors about his contact with Berezovska, the crypto payments, or the hit.
Honestly, that's hard to swallow.
Ukraine's intelligence services, particularly the HUR, have built a reputation for carrying out cold-blooded, highly precise liquidations of Russian military officers and collaborators. They’ve blown up cars in Moscow and assassinated targets deep inside Russian territory. They know how to run a black op.
The idea that a serving intelligence officer just happened to finance a complex bomb plot in Monaco, coordinate an escape across four European nations, and then execute the hitwoman back home without anyone noticing strains all credibility. Whether it was an official operation gone wrong or a freelance hit for a different shadow buyer, the optics for Kyiv are disastrous.
French media outlets like Le Figaro had already started floating theories about Ukrainian state involvement before Berezovska’s body was even found. The discovery of her corpse looks less like a standard criminal arrest and more like a desperate attempt to clean up a messy trail before Western intelligence agencies started digging too deep.
Why This Timing Disasters for Zelenskyy
The fallout from this extends way beyond a courtroom in Kyiv. The timing could not be worse for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
As this story broke, Zelenskyy was arriving at a crucial NATO summit, begging Western allies for more air defense systems and sustained military aid. Ukraine is also aggressively pushing for accession into the European Union. To win over skeptical European partners, Kyiv has to prove it's a stable democracy that has eradicated the corrupt, wild-west gangsterism of its post-Soviet past.
Instead, European leaders are watching a script unfold where a bomb goes off in Monaco, and the prime suspect gets silenced in a gangland-style execution by a Ukrainian intelligence official. It plays directly into the hands of critics who argue that sending billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine is a security risk.
What Happens Next
Don't expect this story to fade away. Monaco prosecutors and French investigators are already working closely with the SBU, and they will want access to the data on those seized crypto accounts. They need to find out exactly where that money originated.
If you are tracking international security or corporate intelligence, watch the money trail. The next step in this investigation won't be about the triggerman—it will be about identifying the oligarchs or handlers who financed the crypto wallets. If those wallets trace back to state funds or high-level officials in Kyiv, the diplomatic blowback will be fierce. For now, Monaco is keeping its security tight, and Ukraine is scrambling to contain a massive internal security scandal before it derails its foreign policy.
