On the evening of June 29, 2026, a powerful explosion rocked a residential building in Monaco. As it later turned out, a booby-trapped package sent by mail to the apartment of a Ukrainian businessman had exploded. Three people were injured in the incident: Vadym Yermolayev, a 58-year-old businessman from Dnipro who is subject to sanctions, his 13-year-old son (who was barely injured), and his mistress, Anna Nasobina (the daughter of the former first deputy prosecutor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, who works as a lawyer and has long resided in the United Kingdom).
The two adults sustained serious injuries—in particular, there are reports that Yermolayev’s partner, Anna Nasobina, had to have both legs amputated. However, their lives are no longer in danger.
The explosive device contained bolts and metal shrapnel to increase its destructive power. In addition to the three people injured in the apartment, four others sustained injuries from the shock wave and flying glass. Monaco’s authorities have classified the incident as an attempted murder, and the country’s government has even declared it “the first terrorist attack in Monaco’s history.” Various theories about what happened are being considered, including the possible involvement of the SBU.
The small principality of Monaco, known as one of the safest places in the world, where extremely wealthy people live and vacation, has suffered an unprecedented shock. And at the center of this scandal are Ukrainians.
Yermolayev is, in general, a controversial figure. In 2019, he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship, and in 2023, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) imposed personal sanctions against him. His name has been linked to a network of fraudulent call centers in Dnipro. According to one theory, the assassination attempt may have been organized by members of the criminal underworld due to a power struggle over the “office” market. According to another theory, Yermolayev was allegedly planning to speak at the European Parliament about corruption in Kyiv.
This case is just one in a disturbing list of high-profile assassination attempts and murders of Ukrainians or people connected to Ukraine in recent years. UA.News has decided to highlight the most high-profile of these cases. Read more in our article.
The Murder of Andriy Portnov (Spain, 2025)
On May 21, 2025, in the Spanish municipality of Posuelo de Alarcón, part of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Andriy Portnov, a 51-year-old prominent lawyer and former deputy head of President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration, was shot and killed.
The tragedy occurred in the morning as Portnov was driving his children to an elite school. The killer, riding a motorcycle, was waiting for him at the school gate. When Portnov got out of the car, shots rang out—at least nine. The lawyer sustained five gunshot wounds, including to the head and back, and died at the scene.
Portnov had been under U.S. sanctions since 2021 and also had a rather controversial reputation in Ukraine. His murder caused a widespread outcry. Acquaintances of the lawyer claimed, among other things, that he was allegedly planning to go public with “revelations” about President Zelenskyy. However, other sources strongly refute these claims and note that Portnov had a perfectly normal working relationship with the Ukrainian authorities.
The investigation dragged on for a long time. It was not until February 2026 that a suspect—Alexander Azizov—was arrested in Germany. The investigation also established that his brother, Veli Azizov, was involved in the crime. Both suspects held Russian passports. According to the investigation, Veli Azizov’s phone number was traced to Spain on the day before and the day of the murder; a few hours after the murder, he traveled through France to Germany, and his trail then led to Turkey and Russia. The suspect was extradited from Germany to Spain to stand trial.
Igor Komarov: Dismemberment in Bali (Indonesia, 2026)
In February 2026, Ukraine was shaken by news of a brutal murder on the island of Bali (Indonesia). Igor Komarov, a 28-year-old Ukrainian and the son of a crime boss from Kramatorsk, was kidnapped on February 15 in Jimbaran. The kidnappers demanded a $10 million ransom for his release. A video even appeared online showing a battered Komarov begging his parents and his girlfriend to pay the kidnappers.
On February 26, local residents discovered a dismembered human body on Ketewel Beach in the province of Gianyar. Law enforcement officers found the head, torso, arms, and legs. DNA testing conducted at the National Center for Forensic Science in Jakarta confirmed that the remains belonged to Igor Komarov.
According to media reports, Komarov Jr. owned a network of call centers that “scammed” Russians. The murder has been linked to a power struggle within the call center market. According to one theory, Komarov was abducted by a group of Chechen natives.
At Indonesia’s request, Interpol issued a warrant for the suspects—one Russian and three Ukrainians, including Vasyl Nemesh, a notorious Transcarpathian gangster with over 20 years of criminal history. Nemesh is considered the prime suspect in this murder. He is an experienced repeat offender whose criminal record began to grow in the early 2000s.
What is both intriguing and horrifying is the fact that Komarov was most likely tracked down thanks to the smartphone of his girlfriend, 23-year-old blogger Eva Mishalova. She was in Bali with her boyfriend and constantly posted about their vacation, making sure to include her geolocation. This is likely what served as a “beacon” for the killers led by Nemesh.
One suspect has already been arrested, and six others are wanted. As of now, the investigation is ongoing.
Maksim Kuzminov: The Shot Defector (Spain, 2024)
One story that garnered significant international attention involves Russian military pilot Maxim Kuzminov. In August 2023, he decided to defect to Ukraine and, on a mission for Ukrainian intelligence, flew a Russian Mi-8 helicopter to Kharkiv along with two unarmed crew members. The crew members were killed during the operation. As expected, this act led to him being labeled a “traitor” in Russia and a “hero” in Ukraine.
After his escape, Kuzminov stayed in Ukraine for a while, after which he settled in Spain, in Villajoyosa (Alicante province). According to local press reports, he led a dissolute lifestyle, spent money recklessly, and drank heavily in bars. Ukraine, it should be noted, paid the young man $500,000 for hijacking the helicopter.
On February 13, 2024, the body of 28-year-old Kuzminov, with multiple gunshot wounds, was found in the underground parking garage of his building. The victim’s identity could not be immediately established because he was using false documents.
The investigation eventually reached a dead end. The Spanish police were never able to identify any suspects in the murder. In December 2025, a court in Villahoyos ruled to temporarily suspend proceedings in the case due to a lack of sufficient evidence to hold a specific individual accountable. It should be noted that as early as 2023, representatives of Russian intelligence officially promised that they would “punish” Kuzminov and that “he would not live to see his trial.”
The Mysterious Death of Igor Hrushevsky (Spain, 2025)
In July 2025, Spain was shaken by yet another tragedy with a Ukrainian connection. The body of 61-year-old Igor Hrushevsky was found in the swimming pool of the Cala Alta residential complex in the municipality of Calpe (Alicante province). The man was known for having previously held high-ranking positions within the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, specifically working in the department for combating organized crime. Most notably, he died in the very same residential complex where Maksym Kuzminov was shot in 2024.
Hrushevsky was once a prominent figure in Ukrainian law enforcement circles, but after the start of the full-scale invasion, he left the country and was living in retirement. The official cause of death was drowning, but the circumstances of his death raised many questions. According to local media reports, the body allegedly showed signs of physical abuse, and blood was flowing from his ear, among other things.
Spanish police have opened an investigation into a violent death. According to one theory, Hrushevsky, who possessed a large amount of compromising information about criminal schemes in Ukraine, may have been targeted because he “knew too much.” Another theory linked his death to the settling of old scores among former law enforcement officials who had gone into exile. The investigation is still ongoing, but there are no official conclusions yet regarding the masterminds or motives.
The Murder of Iryna Zarutska (United States, 2025)
Although this particular case has absolutely nothing to do with politicians, security officials, or businesspeople, it has sparked no less public outcry and demonstrates the vulnerability of ordinary Ukrainians even in the most prosperous and successful countries. In August 2025, America was shaken by the tragic story of 23-year-old Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska. The young woman had arrived in the U.S. with her mother, sister, and brother in 2022, fleeing the war.
On the evening of August 22, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Zarutskaya boarded a train. She chose an empty seat in front of 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr. The man pulled out a knife and stabbed her three times in the back. The young woman died at the scene. Her body was found in the rear car of the train in a pool of blood, with a knife and a blood-stained shirt nearby.
The murder sparked a new wave of debate on racial issues in the United States—the suspect was Black. Brown was arrested shortly after the crime. As it turned out, he had been arrested multiple times since 2011 for theft, armed robbery, and making threats.
In October 2025, Brown was charged with a new offense carrying the possibility of the death penalty. However, in June 2026, the court ruled him unfit to stand trial and ordered him to undergo four months of psychiatric treatment at a federal medical facility. The trial has been postponed for now.
Zarutskaya’s story has become a symbol of senseless cruelty, a victim of which one can become anywhere—even in a car of an ordinary American train. Incidentally, her father, an ordinary Ukrainian man, was not even allowed to travel abroad to say goodbye to his daughter—simply because he is of draft age.
In summary, in recent years, certain alarming trends have clearly emerged abroad regarding Ukrainians and people connected to Ukraine. The terrorist attack in Monaco, a series of deaths in Spain, the dismemberment in Bali, and the bloody massacre on an American train—these incidents are linked not only by the Ukrainian roots of the victims but also by geography: all of them took place far from Ukraine, in prosperous countries considered entirely safe.
Vadym Yermolayev is more of an exception to the rule, as he survived, albeit with serious injuries. Andriy Portnov, Ihor Komarov, Maksym Kuzminov, Ihor Hrushevsky, and Iryna Zarutska, however, were killed.
The motives for these crimes vary: political, settling scores, criminal feuds, revenge, random acts of violence by the mentally ill, and so on. But the fact remains: Ukrainians are increasingly becoming victims of high-profile assassination attempts and murders outside their country. And each such case deals a blow not only to the families of the victims but also to Ukraine’s reputation on the international stage.
