A Russian pilot said he defected to Ukraine, along with his helicopter, to escape what he called 'genocide'.
Ukraine published an interview of the pilot, Maksym Kuzminov, who defected in August.
Kuzminov said that he defected because he did not want to be involved in war crimes, per CNN's translation.
He also didn't explain adding "both Ukrainian and Russian" — though the Russian military has experienced high casualties in the war its civilian population has come to harm on the scale of Ukraine's.
AdvertisementAdvertisementElsewhere in his interview, Kuzminov detailed how he arranged his defection with Ukrainian intelligence operatives, who said they spent six months planning the operation.
Persons:
Maksym Kuzminov, Kuzminov
Organizations:
UN, Service, Ukrainian
Locations:
Russian, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Russia's, Russia, Ukraine —