Manhunt underway after bomb blast wounds several in Monaco

Police in Monaco and France were hunting a suspect after a blast in a residential building near the French border wounded three people, two of them in critical or life-threatening condition. The explosion happened around 9 p.m. on June 29 on Rue Révérend-Père-Louis-Folla, in the center of the principality, after a man was seen leaving a bag or backpack in the building lobby and fleeing.

Authorities said the device appeared to have been left in the entrance area before it detonated, and some investigators believed it contained bolts or buckshot, a sign it may have been built to maim as much as to destroy. Several reports identified a possible target as Ukrainian businessman Vadym Ermolaev, also spelled Vadym Yermolaiev or Vadym Iermolaiev, and said the injured included a couple in their 50s to 60s and a 13-year-old relative.

Christophe Mirmand, Monaco’s minister of state, said the blast was unprecedented in the principality’s history. That statement carried unusual weight in a state with only 38,423 residents as of 2024, where public order and criminal investigations fall to the Public Security of Monaco and where violent street crime of this kind is rare.

French emergency services moved in to support local authorities, and the search quickly became a cross-border operation. The French interior ministry said the manhunt was continuing across the border, underscoring how Monaco’s security depends on cooperation with France when a suspect leaves the compact enclave and enters the wider Riviera.

The attack reverberated fast beyond the narrow streets of the principality. Eric Ciotti, the mayor of nearby Nice, called it a tragedy for Monaco, while investigators continued to weigh whether the bombing was personal, criminal or political. For a state better known for wealth, tourism and tight policing than for open violence, the breach exposed how quickly a single explosive device can unsettle one of Europe’s most controlled urban spaces.