The woman who was with a sanctioned Ukrainian oligarch lost her legs after a makeshift bomb detonated in Monaco — in a first of its kind terror attack in the wealthy principality that also injured the tycoon and the woman’s teen son, according to multiple reports.

The woman, who has not been named by officials, was with her 13-year-old son and Ukrainian businessman Vadym Yermolaiev on Monday night when a bomb went off at the entrance of their building, blowing off the woman’s legs, Ukrainian and British media reported.

While initial reports suggest the woman was Yermolaiev’s wife, Anna Yermolaiev, she told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspline that she was not the person injured in the blast. 

“We are currently in a state of severe stress and are actively cooperating with the investigation and law enforcement agencies,” she told the state broadcaster.   

Anna declined to provide more details about the attack that left her husband and the other two victims injured. 

The boy injured in the attack does not appear to be one of Anna’s children, the oldest of whom is 17. 

It remains unclear what Yermolaiev’s relationship is with the woman and boy caught in the bombing, but officials said the three were “apparently returning home” together on the night of the attack. 

The manhunt continues for the suspected bomber, who was seen on video leaving a parcel bomb at the entrance of the building, with Monaco prosecutor Stephane Thibault saying the man has likely fled on foot to France.

“In coordination with the French authorities, we are ⁠pursuing efforts to identify and apprehend him,” Thibault told reporters. “I hope that will happen quickly, given the resources we are deploying.” 

Yermolaiev is a multi-millionaire living in Monaco who had sanctions slapped on him by Kyiv beginning in December 2023 — reportedly stemming from his alcohol business activity in Russian-occupied Crimea, France24 reported.

Yermolaiev was among the wealthiest tycoons in Ukraine who led in the fields of commercial real estate, manufacturing and agriculture.

He told Forbes Ukraine that he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a citizen of Cyprus in 2017. 

Yermolaiev’s eldest son, Artur, was arrested in Cyprus last year and accused of organizing large-scale fraudulent call centers targeting Europeans, according to  the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper.  

While Thibault  declined to identify the victims of Monday’s bombing, he noted that the man injured in the blast had lived in Monaco since 2021. 

While a motive is not immediately known for the attack, Monaco’s Minister of State Christophe Mirmand described it as a “deliberate explosion,” with the injured woman still in critical condition.  

Mirmand noted that the suspect had walked around the area several times while waiting for the victims to arrive before detonating the bomb. 

“This is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality,” Mirmand told the AFP. 

Monaco is renowned as a haven for the rich and famous, with only about a fifth of its 38,000 population being made up of actual citizens of the principality. 

With Post Wires