Explosion in Monaco injures 3, including Ukrainian tycoon

Authorities in Monaco are hunting for a single suspect after an explosive device tore through a residential building in the tiny Mediterranean principality, leaving three people wounded, among them a businessman identified in reports as a Ukrainian tycoon.

Stephane Thibault, the principality's chief prosecutor, told journalists on Tuesday that investigators believe only one person was responsible for planting the device and that this individual has not yet been located. The blast struck a day earlier, on Monday, tearing through part of an apartment building and sending three victims to hospital with serious injuries.

Rather than treating the case as an act of terrorism, Monegasque police have instead launched a criminal inquiry centered on attempted murder. Thibault was explicit on this point, telling reporters the case is not being handled as a terrorism matter. He added that investigators have not yet established why the attack was carried out, leaving the motive an open question at this stage of the probe.

Photographs from the scene showed forensic teams and investigators combing through the aftermath at the residential block, gathering evidence in what has become one of the more startling security incidents to hit Monaco in recent memory.

The tiny city-state, wedged along the French Riviera and covering barely two square kilometers, has long marketed itself as a refuge for the ultra-wealthy, drawing financiers, celebrities and business magnates with its low taxes and reputation for tight security. An attack of this kind, targeting a residential address rather than a public space, cuts against that carefully cultivated image of insulation from the kind of violence more commonly associated with larger capitals.

The presence of a Ukrainian businessman among the injured is likely to fuel speculation about a possible link to the broader fallout from Russia's war against Ukraine, which has drawn in wealthy exiles, sanctioned oligarchs and rival business interests across Europe in recent years. Monaco, like other wealth havens, has periodically found itself entangled in disputes tied to frozen assets and shifting allegiances stemming from the conflict. Even so, prosecutors have so far declined to draw any public connection between the victim's nationality and a specific motive, underscoring how preliminary the investigation remains.

With the suspect still unidentified and at large, Monegasque authorities face pressure to move quickly, both to reassure residents in a jurisdiction unaccustomed to this level of violence and to determine whether the attack was a targeted act tied to the victims' business dealings or something else entirely. Investigators have given no timeline for when further details, including a possible motive or suspect description, might be released, and Thibault's comments suggest the inquiry is still in its early, fact-gathering phase.

Source: NPR World