The speaker of the GUR of Ukraine commented on the flight of the AFU pilot to Russia
On Saturday, it became known about the transfer of the pilot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the Russian side. According to unofficial data, he arrived on a hijacked Su-27 plane. The author of the Telegram channel "War. History. Weapons" announced an interview with a Ukrainian who arrived in Russia. According to the Information Minister of the DPR Bezsonov, the pilot secretly cooperated with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation since the beginning of its. Details are in the material of "Gazeta.Ru».
We have our guy
The current pilot of the Ukrainian Air Force flew to Russia, the pilot of the Ka-52 helicopter with the call sign "Voevoda" said in his Telegram channel on the morning of November 18.
According to him, the pilot who arrived in Russia is a senior officer and acting flight commander.
At the same time, the author of the Telegram channel "War. History. Weapons" Kirill Fedorov said that a big interview with the pilot will be released soon.
Arrived on the Su-27
Telegram channel Baza in the afternoon of November 18 wrote that the pilot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was able to escape to Russia, presumably on a hijacked Su-27.
According to Baza, the "Voivode" and Fedorov together organized an escape. As of Saturday evening, Russian special services are working with the escaped senior officer of the AFU Air Force. Former DPR Information Minister Daniil Bezsonov told the channel that the pilot had been secretly cooperating with the Russian Armed Forces since February 2022 - that is, since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.
Later, the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Andrei Yusov, made a statement in his Telegram channel, presumably about the transfer of the AFU pilot to Russia.
Hijacked the Mi-8
On August 9, 2023, the Telegram channel Baza wrote that Maxim Kuzminov, a 28-year-old Russian, hijacked a Mi-8 helicopter from an airfield in Kursk. According to the channel, he directed the aircraft towards the Kharkiv region. Two other crew members were on board with him. Then two versions of what happened were considered: either the helicopter lost its bearings, or the recruited pilot, acting under the control of Ukrainian intelligence, hijacked the Mi-8.
Later, the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that they had recruited Kuzminov and convinced him to hijack the aircraft. On September 5, Kuzminov, at a press conference in Kiev, announced the pre-planned route of the Mi-8. According to him, the helicopter was flying at extremely low altitude and in radio silence mode. According to the pilot, while crossing the border, he was shot and wounded in the leg.
The pilot said that two other crew members knew nothing about the hijacking and did not want to surrender to the Ukrainian side. According to Kuzminov, he tried to calm the crew members, but they began to "behave aggressively", and after landing they got out of the helicopter and ran towards the border. The pilot believes that they could have been "eliminated". This information was also confirmed by the head of Ukrainian intelligence Kirill Budanov.
Anastasia Novikova
