Image source, Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty ImagesImage caption, Vitalii Zhykovych appeared in open court during the summer and has spoken to the BBC from prison
BySarah Rainsford, Southern and Eastern Europe correspondent and Mariana Matveichuk- Published21 minutes ago
A former Ukrainian security services officer linked to a bomb attack in Monaco in June that targeted a multi-millionaire says he believed it was ordered by senior members of HUR, Ukraine's military intelligence agency.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC from prison in Kyiv, facilitated by his lawyer, Vitalii Zhykovych has given his own account of the attempted assassination for the first time.
Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolayev and his 13-year-old son were badly hurt in the blast and his partner suffered catastrophic injuries. Yermolayev later described their survival as "nothing short of a miracle".
Zhykovych describes himself as a "freelancer" for Ukraine's SBU security service and says Anastasia Berezovska, the woman caught on camera planting the bomb in Monaco, was his "agent".
A week after the bombing, Berezovska's body was discovered in the woods west of Kyiv with gunshot wounds to the head.
But Zhykovych insists he did not send her to kill, and nor did he kill her.
He was arrested and accused of her murder together with an active-duty intelligence officer from HUR called Vladyslav Reut.
Reut initially confessed to investigators, and led them to the shallow grave. But days later in court, he changed his testimony to blame Zhykovych.
For a long time, Zhykovych himself stayed silent.
Now, responding to questions from the BBC, he alleges that Reut - who he refers to as "The Boss" - had "proposed the operation" in Monaco against Vadym Yermolayev.
He understood it was an official mission.
"As Reut informed me, this operation […] had been authorised and approved by Reut's superiors, who served in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence [HUR]," he says.
Distancing himself from the explosion itself, he alleges that Reut asked to use Berezovska for the bombing and when Zhykovych refused – he says she was not fully trained – Reut agreed to send her for reconnaissance instead.
Image caption, Vladyslav Reut initially confessed but then changed his testimony
Reut then communicated directly with Bereszovska without including him, according to Zhykovych, who alleges that Reut also provided her with the explosives.
The BBC asked HUR to comment on the latest claims. The agency has previously said that is it "committed to a full investigation" and providing "comprehensive support" to law enforcement bodies.
The SBU has described Zhykovych in a statement only as a "former law enforcement officer".
Image source, Ukraine prosecutorsImage caption, Two screengrabs from a surveillance video captured Anastasia Berezovska just before and during the explosion
Yermolayev was attacked in Monaco as he and his family were returning from an evening meal on the seafront. A surveillance video shows Berezovska walking slightly in front of the group, then leaving the device in a bag on their doorstep.
It detonates just as they get close, apparently shocking even Berezovska with its force.
Yermolayev later said he believed that serving HUR officers, "individuals close to the agency's current and former leadership", were linked to the attack.
He called for "the truth, protection, and justice".
Berezovska was quickly identified as the suspected bomber and on 2 July her image, taken from CCTV footage, was circulated by Interpol.
She had already fled, first driving through Italy and Germany, then taking a bus from Frankfurt to Ukraine.
Before she could be caught and questioned though, she was driven to the woods by Reut and Zhykovych and killed. Each blames the other for her shooting.
The shocking case has prompted intense speculation, including over who may have wanted Yermolayev dead and why, and whether this could have been a state-ordered assassination attempt, a rogue operation or some kind of criminal score-settling.
Image source, InterpolImage caption, After the Monaco blast, police released an image of Berezovska caught on CCTV
The businessman himself, who renounced his Ukrainian passport some years ago and now has Cypriot citizenship, has dismissed multiple theories.
They include the idea the attack might be linked to a struggle between organised crime groups involved in highly lucrative scam call-centres in Ukraine.
Earlier this year, a court in Estonia convicted Yermolayev's son, Artur, of defrauding its citizens out of millions of euros through such "offisy", as the scam networks are known in Ukraine.
Vadym Yermolayev told the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper that he "never had anything to do with anything" in the case.
Now Zhykovych has put forward his own theory to us.
He alleges that Reut told him the bombing was in retaliation for "funding the annexation of Crimea", which he understood to mean Yermolayev was paying taxes to Russia from businesses in Russian-occupied Crimea.
"In my view, this constitutes grounds for the operation," he communicated from prison.
Image caption, Zhykovych (C) spoke publicly for the first time at a recent custody hearing in Kyiv
Yermolayev has repeatedly denied any remaining business interests linked to Russia.
But might this story be even murkier?
At his most recent custody hearing in Kyiv, surrounded by heavily armed guards, Zhykovych spoke publicly for the first time since his arrest. The BBC were the only media present.
At one point Zhykovych said Reut had in fact told him the attack in Monaco was not "authorised".
"Someone had ordered this target from the civilian side," Zhykovych said, without explaining.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesImage caption, Vadym Yermolayev and his 13-year-old son were badly hurt in the blast and his partner suffered catastrophic injuries
The judge then interrupted, reminding him that he was addressing an open court.
Zhykovych also revealed that Reut originally talked of two targets.
When we asked, he said he could not disclose the second name. Other sources strongly suggest it was a pro-Russian blogger tried and convicted in absentia last year by Ukraine of treason.
As the investigation continues – into both the bombing in Monaco and the murder in Ukraine - Berezovska's family have many questions of their own.
The 39-year-old had been in Germany since early 2022, when she left Ukraine as a refugee with her young son.
Zhykovych now claims she was living a double-life, working with him as an agent "against Muscovy" – meaning Russia.
He said they had met online and told us the pair were working to "repel the armed aggression of the Russian Federation".
Berezovska's husband has told the BBC that the allegation was "nonsense". He believes she was dragged, unwittingly, into the whole affair.
Zhykovych says Berezovska called him the day after the Monaco attack, and when he asked why she had done it, she said Reut had promised her a huge fee. "$50,000 doesn't just lie on the streets," she supposedly explained.
Residents in her village have told us that Berezovska was saving to buy a flat. But when she travelled to Ukraine to collect the money, she was lured into the woods and shot.
Additional reporting by Anastasiia Levchenko and Volodymyr Lozhko.
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