Vladyslav Reut, an active officer of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (GUR), who confessed to killing Anastasiia Berezovska, the woman suspected of trying to assassinate a multimillionaire and his family in Monaco last week, has now changed his story, claiming he did not pull the trigger. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
In court in Kyiv for a custody hearing on Thursday, Reut "categorically denied" committing the murder and blamed his alleged accomplice, Vitalii Zhykovych, instead. Just days earlier, Reut had led investigators to Berezovska's grave in the woods.
The case has drawn attention because Reut is a decorated officer of the GUR, while Zhykovych recently worked for the SBU security service. President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would have "additional relevant reports" in the coming days.
The motive for the Monaco blast targeting Vadim Yermolayev remains unclear. Yermolayev, a businessman in cognac and real estate, renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and was sanctioned by Kyiv for doing business in Crimea.
In court, both suspects appeared handcuffed and masked. The prosecutor clarified that Berezovska arrived in Ukraine two days after the blast. Investigators traced her phone records to Zhykovych and Reut.
Reut initially confessed to shooting Berezovska and showed investigators where he buried her body. But in court, he said he wanted to "tell the truth" and shifted blame to Zhykovych. "I fought enemy combatants while defending my country. I would never intentionally murder an innocent civilian woman," he stressed.
In his revised version, Reut claimed Zhykovych produced a modified Makarov pistol and shot Berezovska four times, then threw the gun into a lake. He said he confessed because Zhykovych threatened his relatives. Zhykovych's lawyer rejected the account, calling his client a "patriot" who fought in eastern Ukraine.