Ukrainian ex-police official reportedly found dead in same Spanish complex where Russian defector was killed
A former top Ukrainian police official has been found dead under mysterious circumstances in the same Spanish residential complex where a Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine was assassinated last year, Spanish news outlet El Espanol reported on July 20.
The body of 61-year-old Ihor Hrushevskyi, a former senior officer in Ukraine's Department for Combating Organized Crime, was discovered floating face down in the swimming pool of the Cala Alta residential complex in Villajoyosa, a coastal town in Spain's Alicante province, on June 29.
While initial findings suggest no signs of violence, witnesses noted he was bleeding from one ear, suggesting it might have been a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke. Despite efforts by bystanders and emergency personnel to revive Hrushevskyi, he was declared dead at the scene.
The exact cause of Hrushevskyi's death remains unclear.
El Espanol reports that Hrushevskyi was a senior official in Ukraine's Interior Ministry and later in the National Police, though he is largely absent from public records.
Ukrainian legal databases reportedly list him as holding top roles in anti-organized crime units in Cherkasy and Kirovohrad oblasts in the early 1990s. These units were disbanded in 2015 as part of police reforms and replaced by the National Police and the SBU's anti-corruption directorate.
The same residential complex was previously the site of another death — that of Russian pilot Maksim Kuzminov, who defected to Ukraine with a military helicopter in 2023.
Kuzminov was found shot dead in a garage there in February 2024, with a burned-out car discovered nearby, believed to have been used by his killers. Ukraine's military intelligence confirmed his death on Feb. 19, 2024.
There was no direct connection confirmed between the two deaths.
According to El Espanol, Hrushevskyi had recently purchased and begun renovating a unit in the complex.
Hrushevskyi's age and his recent purchase of the apartment have led some neighbors to believe he may have simply retired to Villajoyosa for its sizable Ukrainian community, the news outlet reported.
