The Wall Street Journal shed light on the circumstances of the murder in March last year of Denis Kireev, a banker and member of the first negotiating team from the Ukrainian side. The publication called him an agent of Ukraine, whose timely information did not allow the Russian Armed Forces to take Kyiv on the move.
The fact that it was Kireev who on February 23 announced that the main goal of the Russian Armed Forces in the Kiev direction would be the Gostomel airfield, the publication was told by the head of the military intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) Kirill Budanov.
The information, according to Budanov, gave the Armed Forces several hours to regroup and prevent the strip from being captured in a safe state. Thus, the Russian Armed Forces were unable to quickly transfer troops to Kyiv by transport aircraft. Instead, the columns stretched from the Belarusian border itself, bogged down in the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “If not for Kireev, Kyiv would most likely have been taken,” Budanov said.
Partially, the circumstances of the defense of Gostomel were discussed in a large investigation by The Washington Post about Russia’s preparations for war. According to these data, at the last moment, the Armed Forces of Ukraine assembled heavy Pion howitzers to destroy the airfield’s GDP.
The murder of Kireev, according to the newspaper, happened due to a misunderstanding by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), who suspected him of a Russian agent, after his participation in peace negotiations. At that time he was an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate (which admitted this two days after the murder). Kireev was buried with state honors, and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky posthumously awarded him a medal for “exceptional services in the defense of state sovereignty.”
Throughout the article, the WSJ repeatedly points out that the leadership of the SBU was suspected of having links with Moscow. In July last year, Zelensky fired the chief of this special service, Ivan Bakanov, along with dozens of high-ranking employees, and hundreds of cases were initiated.
Who is Denis Kireev
Murdered at the age of 45, Kireev began as a banker in the Ukrainian branches of Credit Lyonnais, Citibank and ING. In 2003, his relative became deputy director of the SBU, which “revived Kireev’s interest in secret work,” notes the WSJ. According to one acquaintance, he “loved playing the role of agent 007.”
Since 2006, he has become a confidant of well-known Donetsk oligarchs – Andrei and Sergey Klyuevs (Ukrgrafit, Ukrpodshipnik), close to the future pro-Russian President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.
Under Yanukovych, Kireev led the National Security and Defense Council, and then was First Deputy Prime Minister (until 2012), having developed personal contacts among high-ranking officials of the Russian FSB.
After the annexation of Crimea, Kireev, on the one hand, sponsored Ukrainian nationalist battalions, and on the other, continued to manage some of the Klyuevs’ assets. According to British intelligence, cited by the WSJ, Andriy Klyuev was supposed to be part of the puppet pro-Russian government of Ukraine.
Under Zelensky, Kireev counted on the leadership of the state-owned Oschadbank, but did not get this post due to accusations of disloyalty. And in 2021, Budanov personally approached him and instructed, using existing connections, to establish contacts with Russian military intelligence. Kireev fulfilled the order, crossing the Russian border over and over again and bringing valuable information, culminating in the main goal of the Russian attack on Kyiv – Gostomel airport.
After the disruption of Russian plans near Kyiv, Budanov asked Kireev to become a non-staff member of the delegation to the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, despite the fact that this left no doubt about his connections with the special services. After the first round of negotiations on February 28, Kireev was summoned from the counterintelligence department of the SBU, after which Kireev instructed his bodyguards not to interfere with his attempt to arrest him. However, instead of being arrested, he was killed in the center of Kyiv as a Russian spy.