Denys Kireyev ( uk, Денис Борисович Кірєєв; 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 ( uk, аеропорт «Антонов» ), also known as Hostomel (or Gostomel) Airport ( uk, аеропорт «Гостомель»), is an international cargo airport and testing facility in Ukraine, located near Hostomel ...

would be the site of the main attack of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 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 (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census). Etymology There are at least six narratives of the or ...

, Belarus. He was killed a week later by the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( uk, Служба безпеки України, translit=Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy}) or SBU ( uk, СБУ, link=no) is the law enforcement authority and main intelligence and security agency of the Ukrainia ...

(SBU). Kireyev was supposed to participate in the next round of peace talks in Belarus on March 3. According to Kyrylo Budanov, 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 spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

would have probably fallen.

Banking career

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

Oschadbank The State Savings Bank of Ukraine, or Oschadbank ( uk, Ощадбанк), is a public joint-stock company based in Ukraine. It was established by Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on May 21, 1999, through the transformation of its pr ...

, and prior to that he was a member of the supervisory board of Ukreximbank. He also worked for

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City Ba ...

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 The ING Group ( nl, ING Groep) 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 ...

, 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 organ ...

for Russia and was killed by the

(SBU) while trying to escape detention. According to these reports, he was suspected of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, 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." In January 2023, Zelenskyy's advisor

Mykhailo Podolyak Mykhailo Mykhailovych Podolyak ( uk, Михайло Михайлович Подоляк; born February 16, 1972) is a Ukrainian politician, journalist and negotiator, serving as the adviser to the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In 202 ...

said that Kireyev's death was a tragic mistake 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