War in Ukraine: 17 months apart, a senior Ukrainian official and a Russian deserter pilot found dead in the same residential complex in Spain

Ihor Hrushevskyi, a senior official in the organized Department of Crime of the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, was found dead in the swimming pool of the Cala Alta residential complex in Villajoyosa (Alicante, Spain), on June 29, 2025. aged 61, he had bought an apartment in the residence a few months earlier, as revealed by The Spanish.

However, the circumstances of his death remain blurred: his body did not have physical injuries but he was bleeding with the ear, and floated in a deep pool only 1m50.

More surprisingly, the same residential complex was the scene of the murder of the Russian deserter pilot Maxim Kuzminov last year.

Coincidence?

On February 13, 2024, Maxim Kuzminov had been found dead in his garage. As had relayed The independentthe Russian soldier had betrayed Russia in August 2023, diverting a half-8-kilometer combat helicopter compared to the initial plan, before putting him back to the Ukrainian army.

He himself had controlled the machine to a Kharkiv military base. His defection was made public the following month.

The pilot explained that his motivation was to oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Spanish news site, the deserter pilot would have received the sum of 500,000 euros in exchange. He then took refuge under a false identity in Alicante, where he had been executed with six bullets.

“The inhabitants still remember the fear that they felt by learning that the 33 -year -old Ukrainian murdered was actually a 28 -year -old Russian defector under a false identity,” said the newspaper, recalling that the Spanish police had discovered, on the ramp of the Garage of the Villajoyosa building, classic Makarov cartridges, originally manufactured in the Soviet Union.

The press service of Civil guardian told the Russian news agency Ria Novosti that the investigation was classified secret.