Russian Pilot Who Defected to Ukraine Found Dead in Spain, Shot 12 Times by Unknown Assailant: Reports

A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine as part of a secret operation in 2023 was discovered dead in Spain, according to the Ukrainian Security Service.

Knewz.com has learned that pilot Maxim Kuzminov’s body was found riddled with bullets in an underground garage on February 13.

Maxim Kuzminov crossed into Ukraine during a flight between Russian airbases in August 2023. By: @vicktop55/X

Multiple sources have confirmed the death of the Ukrainian pilot, and according to the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda, it has been officially confirmed by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine.

According to the news agency Reuters, Kuzminov was reportedly shot 12 times by an unknown assailant in the holiday town of Villajoyosa in Alicante on the Mediterranean coast, where he had allegedly moved and was living under a fake identity.

Russian helicopter pilot Maxim Kuzminov was found dead in Spain. By: Military Today

Before they learned about the identity of the victim, Spanish police believed that the shooting was a gang-related incident, according to The Guardian. Currently, the police force is trying to locate the two suspects who had fled the scene in a vehicle that was later found burnt down in the Costa Blanca town of El Campello.

In 2023, Kuzminov landed his Mi-8 AMTSh helicopter in Ukraine while on a mission to transport parts for Su-27 and Su-30 fighter jets from one Russian base to another. He had two crew members with him at the time, who had reportedly been killed.

The Russian pilot was shot 12 times by an unknown assailant. By: MEGA

Kuzminov talked about the situation he faced in Ukraine during a press conference in Kyiv in September 2023:

“I had two crew members with me. We did not have any weapons with us. Our pilots fly unarmed. No one could resist me since the navigator had no helicopter piloting skills. I reassured the guys that everything was fine, good people lived here, and nothing would go wrong. But they got afraid, began behaving aggressively, and eventually rushed out of the helicopter towards the border.”

“I don’t know their fate, but the media reports suggest they may have been killed,” he added, according to another Ukrainska Pravda report.

The pilot defected to Ukraine in 2023. By: MEGA

The Guardian wrote that the officers of Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s GUR intelligence agency, had persuaded the Russian pilot to defect to Ukraine during an elaborate operation that lasted for six months. Budanov said that his family had already been extracted from Russia.

A Ukrainska Pravda source within the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine had spoken to Kuzminov’s former girlfriend, who discovered his body. “He decided to move to Spain instead of being here. From what we know: he invited his ex to his place and was found shot dead,” the source told the outlet.

Given Russian President Vladimir Putin’s track record of silencing opposers of his regime and those who question the Ukraine war, many are likely to blame the Kremlin for the pilot’s murder.

However, Russian political commentators claimed that the reports of Kuzminov’s death were false and had been planted deliberately by Ukrainian intelligence.

Russian political commentators claimed that the reports of Kuzminov’s death were false and had been planted deliberately by Ukrainian intelligence. By: MEGA

“Don’t get too excited… They want to create a new biography with a clean slate and a new name for the traitor,” Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in southern Ukraine, wrote on Telegram, according to The Guardian.

The killing comes days after Putin’s most prominent objector, Alexei Navalny died in prison while serving a 30 year sentence for “extremism.” Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said Putin “bears responsibility” for her husband’s death.

“We cannot trust Putin and the Putin government. They always lie,” she said, according to Reuters.

She also called on the international community to unite and push back against Putin’s “horrible regime” so that they “bear personal responsibility” for what the government has done to Russia.