PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — As as a heat wave that baked western European countries reached the Balkans this week, animal welfare activists in small Montenegro have expressed alarm over the decades-old problem of abandoned animals.
Several unattended horses roamed the outskirts of the capital Podgorica in scorching heat without shelter, water or food. With temperatures reaching nearly 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), activists said they fear the animals are in danger.
“This is only 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) from the city center,” animal protection activist Marta Darmanovic said. “It is not in the middle of nowhere.”
Throughout Europe, extreme heat has broken temperature records in many countries, overburdened hospitals and left people struggling to cool down. In France, temperatures this week have been higher than a historic 2003 heat wave that was blamed for 15,000 deaths, many of them older people.
In Podgorica, the open area where many horses have gathered is close to an illegal dumpsite and several unregistered, improvised settlements. It was unclear how the animals got there or if they belonged to anyone.
“It is simply unbelievable that a country does not have a shelter for large animals, for confiscated horses, confiscated livestock, stray livestock and wild animals,” Darmanovic said. “Montenegro has effectively legalized animal abuse because it has failed to provide even minimum infrastructure needed for the regulations to be enforced.”
The Adriatic nation of just 620,000 people is attempting to join the European Union by 2028. EU candidate nations must have laws regulating animal welfare to join.
Branko Kovacevic, the head of Podgorica’s Municipal Inspection Administration, said city authorities have established shelters for dogs and cats and his agency is now attempting to deal with large animals within the established regulations.
“Horses and some other abandoned domestic animals keep appearing,” he said. “As far as the law allows us, we deal with the problem.”
Kovacevic contended that “unfortunately, nobody is responsible” for providing water or food for the animals.
While Montenegro and the rest of the Balkans are more used to hot summer weather than countries such as Britain or France, authorities have advised people to stay indoors and drink a lot of water. Temperatures in the region are expected to fall on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In the eastern Croatian town of Osijek, animals at the local zoo are being served ice cream made of fruit and meat. Zoo employee Zeljko Busljeta told HRT that monkeys choose to stay indoors and rest.
“They like cold water melons, melons and grapes,” he said. “They also get lemonade and cold tea.”
Unattended horses wander on the outskirts of Montenegro's capital, Podgorica, during a hot summer day Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
One of Unattended horses wanders on the outskirts of Montenegro's capital, Podgorica during a hot summer day Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Unattended horses wander on the outskirts of Montenegro's capital, Podgorica, during a hot summer day Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
MONACO (AP) — A Ukrainian business tycoon is believed to have been the target of an explosive device that detonated outside a residential building in Monaco, seriously injuring three people before the suspected attacker fled into neighboring France, authorities and media reports said Tuesday.
Media reports identified Ukrainian construction tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev as being among the injured. Ukrainian news site Ukrainska Pravda said he was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for ties to Russia.
A woman was very seriously injured and is being treated at a hospital in Nice, Christophe Mirmand, the minister of state for Monaco, told French news broadcaster LCI on Tuesday. Her partner and a 13-year-old child suffered less severe injuries but remain at hospital, he added.
The explosion occurred around 9 p.m. on Monday at the entrance of a residence near the French border.
Law enforcement officers were deployed Tuesday morning in Monaco and the surrounding area. French and Monaco authorities are searching for an unidentified suspect, whose motive is under investigation, authorities said.
The three victims were “apparently returning home peacefully” in the early evening, according to surveillance footage, Mirmand said. “They were caught in the explosion as they crossed the threshold of their apartment building,” he said.
The victims are “regular” residents of Monaco, but authorities do not yet know whether the family had been threatened in the past, Mirmand said.
“It appears that the family was specifically targeted,” he emphasized, noting that the alleged perpetrator “had walked around the area several times while waiting for the victims,” according to surveillance footage. “In the minutes before the explosion, he was apparently waiting for the victims.”
The suspect left immediately after the incident on foot, using stairs to get away via Monaco and the neighboring French town of Beausoleil, Mirmand said. Surveillance footage from Monaco’s and Beausoleil’s camera networks is being analyzed, he said.
The attack has shocked the elite principality on the Mediterranean Coast. Monaco’s Prince Albert II described it as “an odious act” and said all the country's services were mobilized to ensure security.
A French national police official said a search is underway for the suspect.
Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian-born businessman originally from the city of Dnipro, built his fortune through the Alef Group, a diversified holding with interests including commercial real estate, manufacturing and agriculture. He became one of the country’s best-known property developers, leading projects that reshaped parts of Dnipro’s city center, and has regularly appeared in rankings of Ukraine’s wealthiest businesspeople.
In an interview with Forbes Ukraine, Yermolaiev said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a Cypriot citizen in 2017.
In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on Yermolaiev as part of a broader package targeting individuals and companies Kyiv said had business links to Russia or Russian-occupied territories.
A coastal playground for the rich and famous, Monaco is renowned as much for its tax-friendly incentives and Formula 1 Grand Prix as its glamorous royal family. The small principality is widely regarded as one of the safest places in the world, including through its extensive surveillance network composed of thousands of CCTV cameras covering most public spaces.
Monaco’s population of 38,000 is multinational, with only a fifth of the population actually citizens of the principality.
—-
AP journalist Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine contributed to the story.
FILE - A luxury car drives along Monaco Harbor, Nov. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File)
