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Day: 7 July 2026

Monaco Prosecutor General responds after Ukraine announces death of bombing suspect and arrests

by: Cassandra Tanti
07/07/2026

Monaco’s Prosecutor General has confirmed that Ukrainian authorities have arrested two people suspected of involvement in the preparation of the attempted murders committed in the Principality, following Tuesday’s announcement that a woman believed to be the subject of Monaco’s international arrest warrant had been found dead near Kyiv.

In a press communiqué issued on Tuesday evening, Prosecutor General Stéphane Thibault said he had been informed by his Ukrainian counterpart that the investigation in Ukraine had already led to significant developments.

According to the communiqué, Ukrainian investigators have identified and arrested two individuals who “may have been involved in preparing the attempted murders committed in Monaco.”

The statement also confirmed that investigators had discovered the body of a woman who “could be the person targeted by the international arrest warrant issued by Monaco.”

While Monaco’s authorities did not identify the woman by name, Ukrainian prosecutors announced earlier on Tuesday that they had found the body of Anastasiia Berezovska, the Ukrainian national wanted by Monaco in connection with the 29th June parcel bomb attack, and had detained two men on suspicion of her murder.

International investigation continues across several countries

The investigation remains under the authority of Monaco’s investigating judges and is continuing in close cooperation with authorities from several countries, including Ukraine.

“The investigations are continuing very actively,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said, with investigators working to identify “all the persons who may have participated in the acts committed in Monaco, as well as their motives.”

Monaco press conference expected later this week

The Prosecutor General’s Office said a further press briefing may be held later this week, depending on the progress of the investigation, to communicate any information that can legally be made public.

The parcel bomb exploded shortly before 9pm on 29th June outside a residential building on Rue du Révérend-Père-Louis-Frolla in Monaco, injuring Ukrainian businessman Vadym Iermolaiev, his 13-year-old son and his partner.

See also: 

Ukrainian intelligence officer confesses to killing Monaco bomb suspect

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Photo: CCTV image of Anastasiia Berezovska in Monaco, provided by Monaco Judicial Services, and an AI enhanced shot of the crime scene taken from instagram

The Princely Family unveils Monaco’s new quarter at Europa-Park, Germany

by: Virginia D’Umas
07/07/2026

The Princely Family travelled to Rust, Germany, on Monday 29th June to officially inaugurate the new, permanent Monaco-themed quarter at Europa-Park. While the area has been open to the public since 28th March, the formal celebration brought a touch of the Mediterranean to the German park in the presence of Prince Albert II, Princess Charlene, Princess Stéphanie, and the twins. 

Centred around the legendary Silver Star roller coaster, which has now been integrated into the Monaco theme, the quarter offers a unique experience. Visitors can admire décor inspired by the Casino de Monte-Carlo, explore a digital aquarium developed in partnership with the Oceanographic Institute, and discover dedicated spaces for the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo. Motorsport enthusiasts can also experience the passion of the Grand Prix through driving simulators and an exhibition featuring vehicles from Prince Albert II’s private collection.

A celebration of heritage and partnership

Nearly 250 guests were invited by the Mack family—the founders and owners of Europa-Park—to witness the unveiling of the ‘Place Grimaldi de Monaco’. The new square, situated at the heart of the 18th themed quarter of the park, stands as a tribute to the ruling dynasty.

Photo Credit: Frédéric Nebinger / Palais princier

The Prince expressed his heartfelt gratitude for the gesture, highlighting the successful collaboration. “It is a great pleasure for us all to find here many iconic buildings of Monaco, and, beyond that, to feel the spirit of our Principality, wonderfully recreated by the Mack family and their teams,” Prince Albert said. “Thanks to these creations of exceptional quality, many visitors will be able to discover a little of what makes our uniqueness.”

Roland Mack, accompanied by his wife Marianne, emphasised the strength of the bond between the park and the Prince. “I am very grateful for this friendly and enriching partnership with Prince Albert II of Monaco and his family,” he said. “The deepening of our collaboration with the Princely House is a testament to the great mutual trust that binds us.”

A star-studded event

The inauguration was a glitzy affair, attended by a host of notable figures, including former French rugby international Yoann Huget—who sponsored this year’s Sainte Dévote Tournament—Miss France 2022 Diane Leyre, former figure skating champion Nathalie Péchalat, RC Strasbourg president Marc Keller, and Michelin-starred chef Marc Haeberlin.

Guests were treated to a vibrant programme of entertainment, designed to bring the glamour and history of the Côte d’Azur to life. The highlights included a circus-themed parade featuring a performance by the Monegasque troupe, Clowns en Folie.

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Photo Credit: Frédéric Nebinger / Palais princier 

Princess Charlene Foundation to mark drowning prevention day at Rainier III swimming pool

by: Cassandra Tanti
07/07/2026

The Princess Charlene Foundation will mark World Drowning Prevention Day on 25th July with a public awareness event at the entrance to the Stade Nautique Rainier III in Monaco, where a prevention village will run from 10am to 5pm alongside rescue demonstrations. The date has been observed worldwide since the United Nations General Assembly designated 25th July as World Drowning Prevention Day in a resolution adopted on 28th April 2021, and the Foundation relays the initiative in the Principality each year.

Drowning remains one of the world’s most persistent preventable killers. The World Health Organization’s first global status report on drowning prevention, published in 2024, recorded more than 300,000 drowning deaths in 2021, with children and young people the worst affected. The Princess Charlene Foundation has worked on the cause since it was founded in 2012, running programmes that teach children to swim and raise awareness of water safety.

More than two million young beneficiaries

By the start of 2026, the Foundation says its swimming and drowning-prevention programmes, run across 45 countries, had taught more than 760,500 children to swim and given water-safety awareness to more than 1,544,000 others, a combined total of over 2,304,500 beneficiaries under the age of 18.

A summer awareness campaign

Alongside the event, the Foundation is rolling out a summer campaign built around a series of videos showing everyday situations, intended to remind the public that drowning can happen quickly and often in familiar surroundings. The films depict realistic scenes and simple preventive actions, and will run through the summer across the Principality, in several neighbouring communes in the south of France and on social media, timed for the period when the risk of drowning is at its highest.

The programme on the day

Between 10am and 5pm, the prevention village at the entrance to the Stade Nautique Rainier III will bring together the Foundation with the Monaco Red Cross, the Maritime Police and Monaco’s fire brigade, with visitors able to learn life-saving techniques and water-safety practices and to speak to those working in prevention. At 11am, the Maritime Police will stage a rescue demonstration with the lifeguards of the Stade Nautique Rainier III, followed by further demonstrations and activities through the day, while an official photograph bringing together the Foundation and its partners is planned for around 11.30am. The Foundation is also offering free entry to the pool to the first 100 children under the age of 18 to arrive on the day.

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Photo source: Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation

Monaco’s women’s rights campaign wins double prize at French communications awards

by: Cassandra Tanti
07/07/2026

Monaco’s Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Women’s Rights has received two prizes at the 2026 Cas d’OR Grandes Causes, a French awards scheme recognising communications campaigns, digital initiatives and social media work in the service of public interest causes. The committee’s campaign won the Special Jury Prize across all categories, as well as the prize in the category for work combating violence — the first time Monaco has been recognised at the awards.

The prizes recognise the campaign ‘L’enfermer ce n’est pas l’aimer’ — ‘Locking them up is not loving them’ — and its animated short film ‘Boîte Noire’, produced by Subliminal Pictures on the theme of coercive control. The campaign was created for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November and broadcast on Monaco Info, as well as on the committee’s website and social media channels. Since going online, the film has surpassed 900,000 views on Instagram alone, without any paid promotion. An English-language version was also produced, with the participation of Toby Wright, Monaco’s Ambassador for Women’s Rights.

The Cas d’OR Grandes Causes were created to recognise organisations using creativity, innovation and digital tools in the service of the general interest. The awards were received by Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, Government Councillor and Minister for External Relations and Cooperation, alongside Céline Cottalorda, Interministerial Delegate for Women’s Rights, and Dominique Ifergan and Yoann Boisson of Subliminal Pictures.

Coercive control at the heart of the message

The theme of coercive control — the pattern of behaviour used by abusers to dominate and isolate their partners — was chosen deliberately by the committee as a subject still insufficiently recognised in public discourse and, in Monaco’s case, not yet formally enshrined in law. Cottalorda has previously said that work is under way with Monaco’s legal services to consider how coercive control might be formally defined in legislation.

The committee, which was established by sovereign ordinance in 2018, has made awareness campaigns a central pillar of its work, reaching audiences well beyond Monaco’s borders. The ‘Boîte Noire’ film is available at dfm.mc.

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Photo credit: Manuel Vitali, Government Communications Department 

 

Monaco students achieve near-perfect baccalaureate success rate

by: Cassandra Tanti
07/07/2026

Students across Monaco have once again delivered exceptional end-of-year examination results, with more than 97% of candidates passing the general baccalaureate at the first sitting and every student enrolled in the Principality’s BTS higher education programmes successfully completing their qualifications.

The Monaco Government announced the results on Monday, highlighting the performance of students across Monaco’s secondary schools and praising the commitment of both pupils and teaching staff.

The overall pass rate for the 2026 general baccalaureate reached 97.4% after the first group of examinations, underlining what the Government described as the high standard of preparation across the Principality’s schools.

Students from Lycée Albert Ier and Lycée François d’Assise – Nicolas Barré also recorded an impressive number of distinctions, with 324 honours awarded across all streams, including 53 ‘Très Bien’ (Highest Honours).

In the general stream alone, 80.7% of successful candidates graduated with honours, comprising 47 Très Bien, including five awarded with the congratulations of the examination jury, 112 Bien, and 89 Assez Bien.

Strong results across all academic pathways

Students in Monaco’s technological streams achieved an 88.2% pass rate, earning nine Bien and 17 Assez Bien distinctions.

Meanwhile, pupils at Lycée Rainier III recorded a 95.5% success rate in the professional baccalaureate, with six Très Bien distinctions — including one with jury congratulations — alongside 10 Bien and 34 Assez Bien honours.

Perfect record in higher education

The Principality also celebrated exceptional results in its higher education programmes, with a 100% pass rate across every BTS course.

Several students achieved standout performances.

A student in the BTS Support à l’Action Managériale (SAM) programme graduated top of the Academy with an overall average of 19 out of 20, while also achieving the highest-ever mark in the Human Resources Management Collaboration examination since the programme was established.

Another student in the BTS Comptabilité Gestion (CG) programme also finished first in the Academy, recording an outstanding overall average of 19.14 out of 20.

Government congratulates students and educators

The Government extended its congratulations to all successful students, praising their hard work and perseverance throughout the academic year.

It also thanked school leadership teams, teachers and support staff for maintaining high educational standards and recognised the continued role of Monaco’s Department of Education, Youth and Sport in supporting schools across the Principality.

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Photo by Monaco Life

 

Ukrainian intelligence officer confesses to killing Monaco bomb suspect

by: Cassandra Tanti
07/07/2026

A serving officer of Ukraine’s military intelligence has confessed to the murder of Anastasiia Berezovska, the Ukrainian woman suspected of carrying out the 29th June bomb attack on a family in Monaco that injured three people, including a child, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine said on Tuesday. Her body was found near Kyiv with gunshot wounds to the head, and two men — the intelligence officer and a former law enforcement officer — have been detained on suspicion of her murder.

Ukrainian law enforcement opened a pre-trial investigation on 1st July, the day Berezovska arrived in the country, prosecutors said in a report seen by Monaco Life. Investigators identified the people she had been in contact with and traced her movements, establishing that, after returning to Ukraine, she had communicated with her family and with two men. The first was a former law enforcement officer; the second, a serving officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence, known as HUR.

Money sent to the suspect

Prosecutors said the two men had repeatedly transferred funds to Berezovska’s cryptocurrency wallets and bank accounts, which led investigators to examine them as people who may have been involved in the Monaco attack. Urgent searches and investigative actions followed. During these, the serving HUR officer confessed to the killing, saying he had carried it out together with the other suspect. He stated that he had not told his superiors about his contacts with Berezovska, the money transfers or his other actions, and that he had acted on his own initiative, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General.

A basement resembling a torture chamber

During a search of the former law enforcement officer’s home, investigators discovered what they described as a basement room resembling a torture chamber, prosecutors said. Both men have been detained on suspicion of murder committed by a group acting in prior conspiracy.

How the body was found

Based on the testimony of one of the suspects, investigators carried out a reconstruction of events, during which Berezovska’s body was found with gunshot wounds to the head, alongside spent pistol cartridge casings. Formal notices of suspicion are being prepared, and the investigation is continuing.

Cooperation with Monaco

The Office of the Prosecutor General said all the information available to Ukrainian law enforcement had been passed to the investigative authorities in Monaco, and that it was working in close cooperation with them. Ukrainian investigators are continuing to identify those who ordered the attempted murder of the family in Monaco, along with any others involved.

Monaco’s Prosecutor General has yet to confirm the development. Monaco Life reached out to the victim’s lawyer, who said they were not able to confirm or deny the information and would leave it up to the authorities to relay the appropriate information.

Who is leading the inquiry

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the National Police of Ukraine, with operational support from the counterintelligence department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and, prosecutors said, the personal assistance of the head of HUR, Oleh Ivashchenko — the agency whose serving officer has confessed to the killing.

See also: 

Anastasiia Berezovska: Ukrainian woman wanted over Monaco parcel bomb disguised herself as man

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Photo of CCTV footage of Anastasiia Berezovska taken in Monaco before the 29th June parcel bomb attack. Source: Judicial Services of Monaco. AI enhanced for clearer image.