Ukraine’s most celebrated deserter was gunned down in a Spanish beach town.
From: Politico By CLAUDIA CHIAPPA, EVA HARTOG,
and VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA
in Villajoyosa, Spain
The first person to spot the body was an elderly Spanish man who mistook it for a drunk passed out at the entrance of the parking garage.
Then he saw the blood darkening the dead man’s chest — and a white car flashing past him, speeding up the ramp and into the night.
“He had at least six bullet wounds. He was wearing something like a jacket,” the man recalled. “You could see blood.”
The dead man was carrying a fake Ukrainian passport, identifying him as Ihor Schevchenko, 33 years old, so it took a few days for news of his true identity to trickle out.
At first, the rumors flitted through Russia-affiliated news outlets and posts on the messaging app Telegram. Finally, on Feb. 19, 2024, nearly a week after the body was found, Ukrainian officials confirmed it belonged to Maxim Kuzminov, a former Russian helicopter pilot who had carried out a high-profile defection the summer before, flying his vehicle across the front line and delivering it to Ukraine.
Celebrated with fanfare in Kyiv, Kuzminov had been rewarded with money and promised protection, even as Russia declared him a traitor and called for his death.
And so the question then became: What was Kuzminov doing in Spain? Ukraine had hoped his defection would serve as an example for others brave enough to resist the Russian regime. So how did he come to end up dead, bleeding out on the floor of a parking garage?
Voice of Ukraine 