The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced that Russian pilot Maksym Kuzminov, who in August 2023 stole a Russian Mi-8 AMTSH helicopter for Ukraine, was found dead in Spain.
This information was confirmed to a number of Ukrainian media by Intelligence representative Andriy Yusov amid the spread of news about Kuzminovʼs death in Russian state media.
Yusov confirmed the fact of death to "Suspilne" and told "Ukrainian Pravda" that Kuzminov decided to move to Spain instead of being in Ukraine. "From what we know: invited his ex to his place, and they found him shot." He did not give more details.
Before that, the Russian propaganda media wrote about the elimination of Kuzminov in Spain. Part of the media refers to the Italian site IL-corrispondente, which calls Kuzminov a "traitor", and other Russian state media refers to the local Levante-EMV and Informacion. The latter do not name the deceased, but write that the murdered Ukrainian was 33 years old. Kuzminov was 28 years old at the time of the helicopter hijacking operation. News about the murder in the Spanish media from February 13.
The Eureka News X project wrote about the fact that it was Kuzminov who died, referring to "unofficial information" from law enforcement officers. He also calls the pilot a "traitor." The post itself about Kuzminov has already been deleted.
- On September 3, 2023, the film of the General Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) "The downed pilots of Russia" was released, in which the Russian pilot told the details of the special operation "Synitsa". Mi-8 pilot Maksym Kuzminov told how he decided to go over to the side of Ukraine and stole the helicopter. It became known about the special operation itself on August 23. The head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said at the time that there were two more people on board. When they realized where they sat down, they tried to escape and were killed.