A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine with his Mi-8 helicopter said he no longer wanted to participate in the “genocide of the Ukrainian people” and called on his former comrades to follow his example.
“It’s a real shame what’s happening here,” Maksim Kuzminov, 28, said in a television documentary, “Russian Pilots Down,” that aired in Ukraine on Sunday.
“Murder, tears, blood. People are just killing each other.
“That’s all I can do with this and I don’t want to be a part of it,” he said while wearing a T-shirt with Ukraine’s coat of arms.
“If you do what I did, this kind of thing, you won’t regret it at all,” Kuzminov told his fellow Russians about defecting to avoid helping in the ongoing brutal war.
Kuzminov said that when he finally landed his helicopter at an airfield in the Kharkiv region on Aug. 23, it culminated a multi-agency special operation that had been six months in the making.
“I contacted representatives of Ukrainian intelligence and explained my situation to them,” he told the documentary.
Maksim Kuzminov, 28, interviewed about his defection for a documentary that aired in Ukraine on Sunday.Ukrainska Pravda
“To which they offered him this option: ‘Come on, we guarantee your safety, we guarantee new documents, we guarantee monetary compensation, a reward,’” he said.
Before their final escape, Kuzminov’s family was also smuggled out of Russia by agents of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence and the National Police, according to the documentary.
Then, during a recent flight, Kuzminov realized he was close to the Ukrainian border and decided to flee.
“I relayed my location. I said, ‘Let’s try it, I’m not very far,’” she said of the messages to his managers.
Kuzminov handed over his Mi-8 helicopter to Ukraine after landing at an airfield in the Kharkiv region.AFP via Getty Images
“Having made a final decision, I flew at extremely low altitude in radio silent mode,” the pilot recalled.
“Nobody understood what was going on with me at all… I flew through [into Ukraine]I landed, they welcomed me and explained everything to me”.
The two other helicopter crew members accompanying him were not involved in his secret defection plan and “decided not to surrender and died immediately after landing,” Ukrainian Defense Intelligence said.
The twin-turbine helicopter is said to be in good condition and will likely be used by the Ukrainian armed forces, who have also claimed that the pilot brought back “valuable documents” and “secret technical equipment.”
Kuzminov wore a T-shirt with the Ukrainian coat of arms and said he did not want to participate in Russia’s “genocide.” Ukraine Pravda
While denouncing “the genocide of the Ukrainian people,” Kuzminov expressed confidence that the nation will “unequivocally win” the war because its people are united.
“For Ukraine to win is only a matter of time,” he added.
The pilot also urged his former comrades in arms in the Russian military to follow in his footsteps.
“They will have absolutely everything for the rest of their lives,” he said, addressing his troops in his homeland.
“They will offer you work everywhere, do what you want. You will discover for yourself a world of colors.”
Ukrainian Defense Intelligence said a defecting pilot and his family “are in Ukraine and making plans for the future,” without identifying Kuzminov by name.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn