Morning opening: Monaco bombing ‘attempted assassination,’ not terrorist attack, prosecutors say
Jakub Krupa
Police in Monaco are searching for a suspected bomber after a Ukrainian-born business tycoon, his wife and their child were injured in an unprecedented attack that has shaken the normally ultra-safe principality.
Monaco prosecutor said this morning that the investigation was opened into an attempted assassination, after a terrorist attack was ruled out through early inquiries.
The authorities are still looking to identify the suspect.
As the Guardian’s Pjotr Sauer reported,
The Monaco government said a suspect had left a parcel bomb in the lobby of a residential building that exploded shortly before 9pm on Monday, causing what officials described as a “powerful explosion”.
French media identified the victims as Vadym Iermolaiev, his wife and their 13-year-old child. Iermolaiev and his wife had been taken to hospital with serious injuries, while their child was also wounded, French authorities said.
Originally from the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Iermolaiev founded the Alef trade and industrial corporation and became one of the region’s most influential property developers and businessmen.
I will bring you all the updates during the day.
We will also look at the latest from the German investigation into yesterday’s shooting in the northern city of Stade, which left six people dead, and the latest from across Europe and from Ukraine.
It’s Tuesday, 30 June 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Key events
Europe and US on collision course over next high representative for Bosnia
Julian Borger
in Sarajevo
Diplomats from around the world are due to meet in Sarajevo on Tuesday in an attempt to resolve a deep rift between the US and Europe over a top envoy appointment that could have a powerful influence on the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Disagreement has erupted over who should become the next high representative for the international community, a post with significant powers, in an overt test of political wills.
The Trump administration is assertively pushing a business-driven agenda, potentially at the expense of Bosnia’s delicate postwar political balance.
Ambassadors from the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy and the EU, as well as envoys from Canada, Japan and Turkey, are scheduled to meet in the Bosnian capital to make a second attempt to agree on a new high representative, after the first try broke up amid acrimony in early June.
One million migrants in Spain apply to regularise status in new scheme
Sam Jones
in Madrid
More than 1 million undocumented migrants and asylum seekers have applied to regularise their status in Spain under a government programme to harness and defend the benefits of immigration at a time when most European countries are pulling up the drawbridge.
Although the massive regularisation initiative, announced by the socialist-led government in January, was originally intended to benefit about 500,000 people, it had attracted more than twice that number of applicants by the time the registration period ended on Tuesday.
The scheme offers a residence and work permit, initially valid for one year, to applicants who can prove that they do not have a criminal record and that they had lived in Spain for at least five months – or had sought international protection – before 31 December 2025.
Speaking in Madrid on Tuesday, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the huge take-up of the programme revealed how sorely it was needed.
“The fact that more than 1 million people submitted applications shows just how necessary this recognition of rights and responsibilities was.”
Sánchez said Spain needed immigration to grow economically, to tackle its demographic crisis and to finance its welfare state.
Jakub Krupa
As we wait for more updates from Monaco, let’s take a quick look at other news across Europe.
Ukraine ‘in touch’ with authorities in Monaco after bombing injures three
Ukraine is in touch with authorities in Monaco after a bomb attack there injured three people of Ukrainian descent, the country’s foreign ministry said.
All three are members of one family, the ministry said, citing information it received from local emergency services, Reuters reported.
It did not name them, but said Kyiv is checking their citizenship.
Just a reminder that our heatwave/climate Q&A with the Guardian’s Europe environment correspondent Ajit Niranjan is about to start where he will offer his take on the heatwave just passed – and on what is on the horizon.
Head here to ask your questions:
Both Reuters and AFP seem to be confirming the identity of the target of yesterday’s bombing as Ukrainian-born oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev, as mentioned by Pjotr earlier (12:22).
Reuters has this helpful background:
“Yermolaiev was given Cypriot nationality in 2019 and was placed under Ukrainian sanctions in 2023, which Ukrainian media say was for doing business in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The Ukrainian embassy in Paris said it was checking the identity and nationality of those involved.”
Back to the Monaco bombing, John Bulanadi, a 19-year-old student living near the site of the incident, told AFP TV he had heard a loud explosion last night.
“I quickly went out onto my terrace to see what was happening. There was screaming, crying and two people on the ground.”
Monaco’s prince Albert II described the incident as a “heinous crime” and “a shock to the entire Monegasque community”.
The prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes department also expressed his “deepest thoughts for the victims and their families” after last night’s explosion.
“Security forces are very strongly mobilised to search for, apprehend, and bring before the justice system, as quickly as possible, the perpetrator of this horrific act,” he said.
Ask Ajit Niranjan anything about Europe’s hellish week of heat
Separately, we are also hosting a Conversation with our European environment correspondent, Ajit Niranjan, on the heatwaves that hit Europe in the last week – and on what’s next, as some countries, such as France, already start raising alarm about another heatwave beginning in just a few days.
From 1pm BST (2pm CEST), you can ask Ajit whatever you want here:
Reuters noted that the principality of Monaco is surrounded by the sea on one side and France on the other, and there are no border checks between the two countries. Italy is also close.
These are all considerations that will guide the manhunt for the main suspect.
The prosecutor did not identify the victims, but AP reported that he told a press conference that:
“One of the three injured is a woman in life-threatening condition.
The other is a man who is no longer in life-threatening condition and a child whose life isn’t in danger, he said. He didn’t provide their identities.”
The suspected attacker fled into neighboring France, authorities have said.
Morning opening: Monaco bombing ‘attempted assassination,’ not terrorist attack, prosecutors say
Jakub Krupa
Police in Monaco are searching for a suspected bomber after a Ukrainian-born business tycoon, his wife and their child were injured in an unprecedented attack that has shaken the normally ultra-safe principality.
Monaco prosecutor said this morning that the investigation was opened into an attempted assassination, after a terrorist attack was ruled out through early inquiries.
The authorities are still looking to identify the suspect.
As the Guardian’s Pjotr Sauer reported,
The Monaco government said a suspect had left a parcel bomb in the lobby of a residential building that exploded shortly before 9pm on Monday, causing what officials described as a “powerful explosion”.
French media identified the victims as Vadym Iermolaiev, his wife and their 13-year-old child. Iermolaiev and his wife had been taken to hospital with serious injuries, while their child was also wounded, French authorities said.
Originally from the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Iermolaiev founded the Alef trade and industrial corporation and became one of the region’s most influential property developers and businessmen.
I will bring you all the updates during the day.
We will also look at the latest from the German investigation into yesterday’s shooting in the northern city of Stade, which left six people dead, and the latest from across Europe and from Ukraine.
It’s Tuesday, 30 June 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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