Former Ukrainian official found dead in same Spanish complex where Russian defector killed

Ihor Hrushevskyi, a former official at the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s department for combating organised crime, has been found dead in the eastern Spanish town of Villajoyosa, Spanish online newspaper El Español reported on Sunday.

According to the report, Hrushevskyi’s body was found on the evening of 29 June in the pool of the town’s Cala Alta residential complex. While there were no obvious signs of violence, blood was coming from one ear. El Español said he may have drowned after suffering a stroke, though foul play has not been ruled out.

Cala Alta is the same residential complex where Russian pilot Maxim Kuzminov was killed in February 2024, El Español observed. According to media reports, Kuzminov was shot six times and run over by a car.

Kuzminov landed his Mi-8 helicopter in a Ukrainian airfield in August 2023 in what was later confirmed to have been a special operation by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR). A subsequent GUR video showed Kuzminov saying he had chosen to defect because he opposed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and did not want to take part in it. His family had moved to Ukraine prior to his defection.

A state TV report from October, in which Russian propagandists branded Kuzminov “a traitor to the motherland”, claimed that Russian intelligence operatives had received orders to kill Kuzminov.

The New York Times said Kuzminov had left Ukraine for Spain in October 2023, choosing a region that was a “well-known base of operation for Russian organised crime figures”.