A woman wanted for a bomb attack in Monaco was found shot dead in Kyiv, Ukraine said Tuesday. At the same time, Ukrainian authorities arrested two men, including an officer from the country's military intelligence agency Fox40/AP. Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, had been flagged by Interpol — the international police organization — just four days earlier The Guardian.

On June 30, a parcel bomb exploded at the entrance of an apartment building in Monaco. It injured a 58-year-old Ukrainian businessman named Vadym Iermolaiev, his girlfriend, and their young son. French prosecutors believe Berezovska, disguised as a man, planted the device. Prince Albert II, Monaco's ruler, called it an odious act.

Berezovska was a Ukrainian citizen living in Germany. She allegedly received payments in cryptocurrency — digital money — from the two men now in custody. Ukrainian prosecutors say the intelligence officer who was arrested acted on his own and never told his bosses about contacting Berezovska. When authorities searched the arrested men's homes, they found what they describe as a torture chamber with hammers and other equipment.

The victim, Iermolaiev, had been sanctioned — officially punished — by Ukraine in 2023 for business dealings linked to Russia. He lived in Monaco along with other wealthy Ukrainians, a group independent Ukrainian media outlets nicknamed the "Monaco battalion." This background makes the motive for the attack unclear. Was it criminal work someone hired out? An unsanctioned intelligence operation? Ukrainian prosecutors have not yet explained.

The timing of Tuesday's announcement, when Ukraine's president was at a NATO summit, draws attention to how the country's security services look to the West. Western allies are already concerned about whether Ukrainian state agencies have carried out attacks outside the country. The arrest of an intelligence officer makes this concern more visible, even if no one has proven the summit timing and the announcement are directly connected.

Berezovska's death removes the main suspect from the case. Now the two arrested men — and a trail of cryptocurrency payments — are investigators' primary focus. Authorities have not said whether Berezovska's death is being investigated as murder or suicide, but the timing raises a troubling question: was she killed to keep her from testifying?

French and Monegasque authorities will need Ukraine's help with evidence, including material from the property searches, to continue their case against people who can no longer be questioned.

The case reveals a deeper problem. Intelligence agencies working during wartime sometimes develop unofficial arrangements and freelance operations that blur lines. Whether a serving intelligence officer contacted a bombing suspect entirely on his own — and whether Ukraine's account of independent action holds up — matters well beyond Monaco. It touches directly on Western trust in Ukraine as a partner.