Denys Kireyev (; 1 January 1977 – 5 March 2022) was a Ukrainian banker and intelligence officer. On 23 February 2022, Kireyev obtained information that

Antonov Airport Antonov Airport ( ), also known as Hostomel (or Gostomel) Airport (), is an international cargo airport and testing facility in Ukraine, located near Hostomel, which is a northwestern suburb of Kyiv. The airport is owned by and named after the ...

would be the site of the main attack of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, which allowed Ukraine to repel the initial assault on the airport and damage it heavily enough that it could not be used by Russia. Following the invasion on 24 February, he joined the 28 February peace negotiations in

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

, Belarus. He was killed a week later by the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( ; abbreviated as SBU [] or SSU) is the main Internal security, internal security agency of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government. Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combati ...

(SBU). Kireyev was supposed to participate in the next round of peace talks in Belarus on March 3. According to

Kyrylo Budanov Kyrylo Oleksiiovych Budanov (; born 4 January 1986) is a Ukrainian military leader who has served as the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine), Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine since Augu ...

, chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR), if it was not for the information given by Kireyev,

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

would have probably fallen.

Banking career

In 2010–2014, he was First Deputy Chairman of the Board of

Oschadbank The Public JSC "State Savings Bank of Ukraine", or PAT Oschadbank (; ), is a major public bank in Ukraine. In early 2024, it was confirmed by the National Bank of Ukraine as one of the country's systemically important banks. In April 2022, Oscha ...

, and prior to that he was a member of the supervisory board of

Ukreximbank The Public JSC Ukreximbank (full name: ) is a significant public bank in Ukraine, 100% of whose shares are owned by the state represented by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. It was established by the Government of Ukraine in 1992 to implement ...

. He also worked for

Citibank Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...

Credit Lyonnais Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), ...

ING Group ING Group N.V. () is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, whol ...

, and

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

Death

Kireyev died on 5 March 2022. According to preliminary reports in Russian and Ukrainian media, he was suspected of working as a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

for Russia and was killed by the

(SBU) that waited for him under his house and dispatched him with a shot in his head. According to these reports, he was suspected of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

, and the SBU held records of telephone conversations as evidence. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence's Directorate of Intelligence subsequently confirmed Kireyev's death in a Facebook post, but asserted that he was an intelligence operative for Ukraine who died in the line of duty on a "special mission." On 18 January 2023, Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR)

stated that Kireyev was the one who, on 23 February 2022, warned GUR of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. Ukrainian intelligence agencies decided to use Kireyev to obtain timely information during the Russian military buildup in September 2021 under the guise of military exercises

Zapad 2021 Zapad 2021 (,) was a joint strategic exercise between the armed forces of the Russian Federation and Belarus, which took place from 10 to 15 September 2021. According to the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, approximately 200,000 mi ...

. The security forces took him to

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

, from where he and another intelligence officer would enter the Russian Federation, and a few days later he would return and report to the GUR leadership. Thus, Kireyev warned the Ukrainian leadership about the Russian leadership's plans to attack

in January-February 2022, and a few hours before the Russian invasion, he described in detail the main location of the attack on the

Hostomel Hostomel (, ) is a Rural settlement#Ukraine, rural settlement in Bucha Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located northwest of the capital Kyiv. It hosts the administration of Hostomel settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Populatio ...

. This intelligence provided several hours for the deployment of some amount of Ukrainian troops and helped to defend

at the beginning of the invasion. Budanov said that

most likely would have been occupied if not for Kireyev. In January 2023, Zelenskyy's advisor

Mykhailo Podolyak Mykhailo Mykhailovych Podolyak (; born 16 February 1972) is a Ukrainian politician, journalist and negotiator, serving as the advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. In 2022, he became one of the representatives of Ukraine ...

said that Kireyev's death was a tragic mistake possibly due to "poor coordination" between the GUR and the SBU.

References

1977 births 2022 deaths Ukrainian bankers Civilians killed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Businesspeople from Kyiv Citigroup people ING Group people Rabobank people Pro-Ukrainian people of the Russian invasion of Ukraine {{Ukraine-bio-stub