A Ukrainian banker who was killed by special services on suspicion of ties to Moscow provided important information about the upcoming invasion of Russia, which helped the Ukrainian military resist the offensive of Russian troops on Kyiv, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing Meduza and The Moscow Times.

Denys Kireev started his career as a banker in 2000, but then he became interested in the world of espionage. After several years of working with businessmen close to the pro-Russian ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych in the Donetsk region, whom he helped move several assets out of Ukraine after the Putin ally was ousted from power, the banker was offered to work for Ukrainian secrets. service of the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine Kyryl Budanov.

In early March 2022, SBU officers killed former banker Denys Kireev, 45, who was participating in a round of negotiations with Russia.

It was initially reported that he was shot dead during his arrest on suspicion of treason. Later it turned out that Kireev worked for the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine and was killed due to a “misunderstanding” between the security forces, the SBU and the State Security Service.

He was buried with military honors, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posthumously awarded Kireev “for special services in the defense of state sovereignty.”

The head of Ukraine’s special services, Kyrylo Budanov, told The Wall Street Journal that information provided by Kireev on the eve of the Russian invasion helped protect Kyiv.

The banker’s information saved Kyiv

On February 23, 2022, Kireev conveyed information about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s orders to invade Ukraine the following morning to the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, the WSJ reports.

That intelligence gave Ukrainian forces “precious hours” to move troops to Russia’s main point of attack, an airport north of Kyiv.

“If it weren’t for Mr. Kireev, Kyiv would most likely have been conquered,” said General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the State Administration of Ukraine.

Russian troops withdrew from Antonov Airport and the Kyiv area in early April, weeks after Ukrainian forces blocked their advance on the Ukrainian capital.

“We had to take a risk”

Budanov also told the WSJ that he convinced Kireev to use his Russian connections to participate in Russian-Ukrainian ceasefire talks on February 28, hoping it would stop the fighting and buy some time for Ukrainian forces.

“Unfortunately, the situation was critical then, and we had to take a risk,” said Budanov, adding that Kireev’s public appearance exposed his connection with the special services.

However, Budanov invited the Ukrainian banker to take part in the negotiations, which will take place on March 3 in Belarus.

The evening before, Kireyev received a call from the office of the head of SBU counter-intelligence Oleksandr Poklad and said that they wanted to meet with him, but the meeting did not take place.

The next day, when Kireev went to the train station, from where he intended to go to Belarus for negotiations, he warned the guards that SBU officers might try to detain him on the way. “Don’t interfere,” he said then.

Kireev was detained in the city center near St. Sophia Cathedral. An hour and a half later, the banker’s body was found on the streets of Kyiv. At the time, Ukrainian media reported that the banker had been shot while being detained, but his bodyguards said he did not resist.

In the first days of the war, “there was no coordination between the special services”

Shortly after Bacher’s death, it was revealed that he died of “embarrassment”: the SBU suspected Kireev of treason because he did not know that he had the authority to maintain contacts with Russian special services.

In January 2023, this information was confirmed by Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

“These were the first days of the war, there was no unified coordination of law enforcement agencies. On the one hand, there were certain suspicions about him, on the other hand, there was no time to discuss these suspicions,” the adviser explained.

Podolyak did not say whether an investigation into Kireev’s murder was conducted and whether anyone was prosecuted.

Zelensky fired Ukrainian officials

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi dismissed the head of the State Security Service and the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

The Kyiv leader says that officials of institutions headed by Ivan Bakanov and Iryna Venediktova worked against Ukraine in Russian-occupied territories, which calls into question their qualifications to lead two important institutions during the war.

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