Ukrainian ex-intelligence officer Denis Kireev was killed due to disagreements between the security forces of Ukraine at the beginning of the war. This opinion was expressed in an interview with Delfi by Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine.
The murder of Kireev was due to the fact that, on the one hand, there were claims against him, and on the other hand, these claims “did not have time to settle in a dialogue format,” Podolyak said. He drew attention to the fact that Kireev was not part of the Ukrainian delegation at the peace talks with Russia and was associated with the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. According to Podolyak, the former intelligence officer then "advised" on the direction of military clashes. At the same time, the adviser is sure that Kireev was not a Russian agent, although Russia tried to present him as a spy who ended up in the Ukrainian delegation.
On January 18, The Wall Street Journal published an interview with the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov. In it, he stated that Kireev began to cooperate with intelligence officers in the spring of 2021, thanks to the information received from him, Ukraine managed to deploy troops to defend Antonov (Gostomel) airport and hold Kyiv during the days of the Russian offensive. After Kireev attended the first round of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Belarus, he was assassinated in March. Ukrainian media, citing sources, reported that he was shot dead by the SBU during his arrest. The "agency" found out that Kireev was killed due to a "misunderstanding". Sources from both sides of the publication claimed that Kireev was authorized to contact the Russian security forces personally by Vladimir Zelensky, but the special forces soldiers did not know this.