Ilya Smetanin – violinist, artist of the chamber orchestra “Cantabile”, aviator from Lutsk, Volyn region, Ukraine.
“@lutsk_avia – if you are not interested in this page, then even more so here. If you are indifferent to the sky and aviation, then immediately pass by, ”Ilya Smetanin wrote in his profile.
Ilya Smetanin also has a Facebook page.
Biography
Ilya Smetanin was born in Lutsk.
Has Russian roots.
His parents are musicians. Father is a violinist, the mother is a pianist.
Not married.
Lives with his family near the military camp in the Railway Station district of Lutsk.
He studied at the Lutsk Music School No. 2.
After that, he studied at the Volyn State School of Culture and Arts named after Igor Stravinsky.
Graduated from the Lviv National Musical Academy named after Lysenko.
“At the age of five, my dad poked a violin in my teeth and said, they don’t care, but I will learn to play the violin. I joined aviation enthusiasts much later, from the age of 12. For me, aviation and music are indivisible things, because aviation is life in the sky, and music is the sky in life,” Ilya Smetanin told about himself, reports volynnews.
The first concerts of Smetanin as part of the state orchestra were held in Moscow, then in St. Petersburg, Kyiv, and Odesa.
In 2013, the premiere of the French musical “Mozart L’Opera Rockle Concert” started in Paris, where Smetanin also went with his violin.

In 2010, Ilya Smetanin became one of the founders of the Organization of Volyn Aviation Amateurs “OVAL“.
“My grandfather was a rocket scientist. I lived in a military area among pilots. It happens that old people will gather on a bench and begin to tell stories about flights, and the little ones hang their ears. In addition, my mother wanted to enter the Moscow Aviation Institute, and as far as I know, someone on an indirect family line was a military pilot during the Great Patriotic War. Maybe now it has awakened genetically in me, ”said Ilya Smetanin in 2015.
How Ilya Smetanin betrayed Ukraine
On March 4, 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine published a video with Ilya Smetanin, where he tells how he betrayed Ukraine.
“I met an officer of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2010 on social networks. He tried to get information from me about the activities of the Lutsk military airfield of the 204th tactical aviation brigade,” the violinist said.
According to him, in 2017 he met with these officers in Moscow at the Moscow International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS.
“He told me that he works for the FSB of the Russian Federation. In the future, I distributed information on the Internet page with video recording and photographic recording of aircraft flights and protective structures of the Lutsk military airfield. This person took this information from this web page,” Smetanin said.
“On the night of February 23-24, I heard the planes leaving the military airfield, I tried to contact the brigade serviceman to find out what happened and where they were flying. After the shelling of the Lutsk military airfield, I contacted an officer of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and informed me that the strike took place exclusively on the Lutsk military airfield as a strategic facility, and in the near future, at present, no more strikes on Lutsk are planned. I must receive further instructions additionally. I admit my guilt and ask for forgiveness from the Ukrainian people,” he added.
The SSU found that the traitor passed on to the enemy special services information about the types and number of military aircraft, their locations, training flights, and personal data of the airfield servicemen.
During February 24-28, he constantly “leaked” information about the results of the invasion of Russian troops in Volyn.
Thanks to his “help”, the airport was fired upon with rockets, which led to the total destruction of its infrastructure.
After that, the traitor reported the result of the strike to the Russian Federation.
The allowance of the occupiers was notified of suspicion under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (state treason).
While he is in custody and he faces up to 15 years in prison.
On February 24, Putin staged an open military invasion of Ukraine: the troops of the Russian invaders began to shell and bomb Ukrainian cities.
Read also who Galina Danilchenko is and how she betrayed Ukraine during the invasion of Russian invaders.