A serving Ukrainian intelligence officer has withdrawn his earlier confession to the killing of Anastasia Berezovska, the woman accused of a failed assassination attempt against a Ukrainian businessman in Monaco, telling a Kyiv court that his co-defendant was responsible for the shooting.
Vladyslav Reut, an officer with Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Directorate (HUR), appeared at Kyiv Pechersk District Court on Thursday and said that Vitaliy Zhykovych, a former Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) member, fired the fatal shots. Reut stated, “I am forced to deny my involvement in the joint commission of this crime.” Prosecutors had previously accused Reut of shooting Berezovska four times before he and Zhykovych allegedly buried her body in a forest near Kyiv and disposed of the murder weapon in a nearby lake.
Both men face charges of premeditated murder, which carries a potential life sentence. During a hearing that was livestreamed by Ukraine’s public broadcaster, the court ordered that both remain in pre-trial detention.
Reut said he initially confessed to the killing under duress after his arrest on Tuesday, claiming fear for his life compelled him to do so. He offered to undergo a polygraph test to support his claims. He also acknowledged killing people during wartime operations against Russia but denied having any motive to kill an unarmed woman. “Yes, I killed people, but that was during a war,” he told the court. “I destroyed the enemy defending my country... I had no motive to kill an unarmed woman.”
Meanwhile, Zhykovych’s lawyer denied that his client was responsible for Berezovska’s death, suggesting both men had been framed. The lawyer questioned the rationale behind the involvement of a current HUR officer and a former SBU operative in the killing and highlighted inconsistencies surrounding Reut’s initial confession. He further argued that the case should be seen not as murder but as an ordered execution.
Authorities in Monaco identified Berezovska as the key suspect in a bombing on June 29 that injured Ukrainian businessman Vadym Jermolaiev, leading to an Interpol Red Notice issued on July 3 for her arrest. Monaco charged her with attempted murder, planting an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent, and involvement in a criminal conspiracy.
Investigators allege Berezovska disguised herself as a man to conceal her identity before planting the bomb outside the residential building where Jermolaiev and his family were staying. European officials were unaware that Berezovska had already crossed into Ukraine by July 1, before the Interpol notice was issued—by which time she was already dead.
The explosion reportedly severely injured a woman accompanying Jermolaiev, with a child also wounded. Jermolaiev, a businessman in real estate and alcohol sectors, is under Ukrainian sanctions for conducting business in Russia-controlled Crimea and had renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017. Attempts to reach Jermolaiev and his wife for comment were unsuccessful.
Neither the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) nor the Defence Intelligence Directorate (HUR) responded to requests for comment regarding the case.