Nataliya Solomykina, a 38-year-old Ukrainian woman who vanished on April 25 in Valencia, is under suspicion by the National Police of having been killed. She had longed to return to Ukraine, the country she fled after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion a little over two years ago, triggering a war that shows no sign of ending. Her husband, of draft age, did not want that. This tension appears to be the flashpoint of a conflict that had simmered between them for some time, fueling increasingly bitter arguments. But there is more.
She was a lawyer in her homeland and, for a period, an advisor to a deputy in their shared hometown, Zhytomyr. Nataliya owned a substantial real estate portfolio—nine apartments and three rural plots in Ukraine—and she also managed a chain of stores. This was her life before she and her family sought refuge in Spain amid the war.
The rent money
After the couple settled in Valencia, Nataliya, who would have turned 39 on May 16, expanded her property holdings by purchasing several commercial storefronts. It was a deliberate move to invest the funds they managed to bring with them. These properties were in her name, and she handled the day-to-day operations of their commercial ventures. One of them, on Conchita Piquer Street, became a focal point when police recently revealed that floor tiles were lifted to explore the space beneath, where investigators fear the owner might have been harmed, as part of a broader inquiry into a possible gender-based crime.
From that April 25 date forward, her husband has been the one collecting rents and managing the leases. The Valencia Homicide Group has questioned him on several occasions. There is no formal charge yet, but every thread points toward him. If authorities had found a body beneath that concrete and tile, he would have faced detention for murder and would have needed to answer to the examining magistrate in Valencia, who has overseen the case since it began while on duty the day the husband reported the disappearance.
The husband’s shocking version
The husband appeared at a National Police station in Valencia in the late afternoon to report that his wife had been missing for two days. In other words, he waited two days before seeking help, even though he says he had not heard from Nataliya since the 23rd. Investigators found his account startling from the outset: he said they had argued at home, and that he left to walk and think. He claims that when he returned, Nataliya, who had long warned she wanted to return to Ukraine with their children, was no longer there and would not answer her phone. The persistent intervention of Nataliya’s mother, who remains in Ukraine, eventually convinced him that reporting the disappearance was the right course.
According to Nataliya’s family, Zhytomyr, located about 100 kilometers west of Kiev, once again seemed safer. She believed she needed to return to her family, but her husband refused, aware that the Ukrainian government under President Zelenskiy was stepping up mobilization. In May, Zelenskiy approved a new law requiring all men aged 25 to 60 to register in a national database to be called up for service. Many male refugees abroad who had gone home this summer facing conscription were left stranded. The husband knew that risk well.
Fiscal, aspiring judge and high official
Of all the flats Nataliya owned, the only one that had undergone renovations after April to be rented immediately is the Conchita Piquer unit. That reality helped investigators coordinate the search with the National Police, the GOIT technical interventions unit, and the canine unit that had traveled from Madrid with two dogs trained to detect human remains.
The husband himself, a former prosecutor in Zhytomyr until 2013 when he resigned to pursue a judgeship that he did not win and a higher post in his homeland—initially at the regional administration and since 2020 at the national level—allowed the police to conduct the search. The operation included lifting the floor of the premises using a percussion hammer and a guided microcamera, along with other devices, in an effort to uncover any trace of Nataliya. So far, there has been no sign of her.
Notes: This account reflects statements and actions reported by law enforcement and involved parties, with ongoing inquiries and no final determinations as of this writing. Citations: Valencia National Police; Homicide Group; GOIT; canine unit from Madrid.