Ukrainian Ex-Official Found Dead Near Russian Defector Pilot’s Killing Site In Spain

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A high-ranking former Ukrainian Interior Ministry official, Igor Grushevsky, was found dead under suspicious circumstances in the same Spanish residential complex where Russian defector pilot Maxim Kuzminov was assassinated last year. The latest incident adds another layer of intrigue to a series of mysterious deaths involving figures linked to the Ukraine conflict.

Grushevsky, who once headed Ukraine’s organized crime units in Kirovohrad and Cherkasy in the 1990s, was reportedly discovered drowned in a swimming pool at the Cala Alta residential complex in Villajoyosa on June 29. Despite nearly a month passing since the incident, authorities have yet to determine the exact cause of death. Notably, traces of blood were reportedly found near the victim’s ear, raising questions about whether his drowning was accidental.

Grushevsky had recently purchased an apartment in the same complex where Kuzminov, a Russian military pilot who defected to Ukraine in 2023, was gunned down in February 2024. Kuzminov’s killers ran over his body with his own car before fleeing the scene, leaving Spanish investigators with few leads.

Kuzminov’s defection had made headlines last year when he flew a Russian Mi-8 helicopter into Ukrainian territory, an act that led to the deaths of two fellow crew members who resisted Ukrainian forces. His assassination in Spain, just months later, was widely seen as a targeted revenge killing, though no group has claimed responsibility.

Now, with Grushevsky’s unexplained death in the same location, speculation is mounting about possible connections between the two cases. Both men were linked to Ukraine’s security apparatus—one as a defector welcomed by Kyiv, the other as a former law enforcement official. The proximity of their deaths has fueled theories of covert operations, though Spanish authorities have not confirmed any link.

On May 21, an adviser to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was fatally shot Wednesday outside the American School of Madrid, where at least one of his children was reportedly enrolled, according to Spanish authorities and eyewitnesses.