Monaco has been shaken by an apparent assassination attempt on a Ukrainian-born business tycoon by parcel bomb on Monday - something unprecedented in the normally ultra-safe principality.
Authorities have described that a suspect, who is now on the run, had left a mail package in the lobby of a residential building that detonated around 9pm on Monday, unleashing what police called a "powerful explosion".
The victims have since been identified as Vadym Iermolaiev, his wife and their 13-year-old child. They all survived the bombing, with Iermolaiev and his wife having sustained serious injuries and are being treated in the hospital. Both are in critical condition with reports saying the woman sustained the most severe wounds.
The entrance to their luxury apartment building was shown seriously damaged, with emerging CCTV footage soon after showing a suspect fleeing toward the French border donned in a dark shirt and bucket hat.
Iermolaiev and his wife had been taken to hospital with serious injuries, while their child was also wounded, French authorities said.
Monaco's Minister of State Christophe Mirmand told AFP that the bomb contained bolts and pellets, clearly pointing to a device made for maximum killing of the target. He confirmed the government is not yet investigating it as a terror attack, but attempted murder or a targeted killing.
Mirmand told a French broadcaster on Tuesday the suspect "appears to have left for France". The man was observed fleeing towards the French commune of Beausoleil on foot, fleeing the scene of the crime.
The bombing is being reported as a first in all of Monaco history, and over 100 police and security personnel descended on the scene. BBC reports:
Harri Richie, who lives around 100m away from the targeted building, told the BBC she heard an "unbelievably loud explosion" at about 21:00 local time from the underground car park she was in.
She then went up to her 11th floor apartment, where she said she saw emergency services "dragging two people out [from the building] who looked badly injured".
Emergency services arrived around five minutes after the explosion, she said, adding that there was a helicopter overhead throughout Monday night. "This is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality," Mirmand, the head of Monaco's government, said.
Monaco's Prince Albert II described the incident as a "heinous crime" and "a shock to the entire Monaco community".
As for who is Vadym Iermolaiev and who might be behind the targeted attack, the 58-year-old property tycoon is from Dnipro, Ukraine, and back in 2019 - long before the current conflict escalated - he quietly severed ties with his homeland, renouncing his Ukrainian citizenship in exchange for a Cypriot passport.
Amid the ongoing war, Iermolaiev has maintained massive interests in the wine and spirits industry in Russian-controlled Crimea, resulting in him being targeted for heavy sanctions from the Zelensky government by 2023.
Because he was already seen as an 'enemy' of the Ukraine government, most online commentators are pointing the Kyiv's intelligence services as the likely culprit:
Forbes ranked Yermolaiev as the 39th richest Ukrainian in 2020, clocking his net worth at $230 million (£173.8 million). Many current international reports are referencing him as a billionaire, with some pundits suggesting he's involved in array of shady business dealings in eastern Europe.