Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine shot dead in Spain: reports
- Pilot flew from Russia to Ukraine last August in a fully equipped Mi-8 army helicopter
- Russian state television had previously reported a secret service order to kill the man
Spain’s state news agency EFE reported on Monday that a body found on February 13 in the town of Villajoyosa, near Alicante in southern Spain, belonged to pilot Maksym Kuzminov, who had landed in Ukraine with his fully equipped Mi-8 helicopter last August.
After landing at a Ukrainian military airfield, the two other crew members were shot dead while fleeing.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence confirmed to Reuters that Kuzminov had died in Spain, but did not specify the cause of death. Ukraine’s Ukrainska Pravda newspaper also reported that he had been found shot dead.
Spanish police have confirmed that a body was found of a gunshot victim in the town, but have not disclosed the victim’s identity. A source at Spain’s Guardia Civil police force told Reuters that the victim could have been living under a fake identity.
Spain’s La Informacion newspaper, which first reported the shooting, said investigators were searching for two suspects who had fled in a vehicle that was later found burnt out in a nearby town.
Police initially thought the death may have been gang-related, The Guardian reported.
Kuzminov’s defection to Ukraine was presented last year as a major coup for Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials at the time said the defection was part of a six-month special operation called “Titmouse”, in which the 28-year-old pilot’s family had been moved from Russia to Ukraine before the defection.
The Russian had received the equivalent of about US$496,000 from Kyiv for defecting and bringing the helicopter to the Ukrainian military.
In September, the pilot said he defected because he did not want to be involved in committing war crimes.
“Ukraine will definitely win this war, simply because the people are very united,” Kuzminov said. “The whole world is helping because it understands that human life must be valued.”
State television in Moscow reported in autumn that the Russian secret service had received the order to kill the man, who Moscow considered to be a traitor.
Ukraine, which has been fending off a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022, had set rewards for functional Russian military equipment handed over to Kyiv in April 2022.
Russian defectors who hand over a combat aircraft have been offered the equivalent of over US$990,000 as the maximum reward.
Reuters, dpa and Business Insider
