A member of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation who met with Russian officials last week in Belarus for peace talks was killed over the weekend. Amid reports that he had been leaking state secrets to the Russian Federation, there were conflicting accounts of his death.
While Ukraine’s defense ministry says Denis Kireev, aged 45, the former banker and intelligence agent, was killed while serving in an operation to “defend the nation,” local media, two Ukrainian MPs, and Russian media say the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) shot him dead during an attempted arrest for treason.
In the immediate aftermath of Kireev’s death on Saturday morning, initial reports from Ukrainian media, some of which cited the Russian media outlet Pravda, stated that officers from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), who allegedly had “clear evidence” of the former banker’s suspected treason, shot him dead after he resisted arrest.
Senior Ukrainian politicians have reportedly echoed this claim. According to a report from the Ukrainian news agency Interfax-Ukraine, Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko wrote on his Telegram channel:
During the arrest, the Security Service of Ukraine shot dead a member of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation Denys Kireev. He was suspected of high treason.
Ukrainian MP Alexander Dubinsky is also said to have echoed Honcharenko’s claims.
For its part, however, the Ukrainian defense ministry published an official statement saying that Kireev had perished during an operation to “defend the nation,” and hailed him as a national “hero.”
In an official statement, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry wrote:
During the execution of special tasks, three spies were killed—employees of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The fate of Alexei Ivanovich, Chibineev Valery Viktorovich, Denis Borisovich Kireev.They perished defending Ukraine, and their rank brought us closer to victory! We express our sincere condolences to the families of the victims. Heroes do not die! They live as long as we remember them! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!
The defense ministry did not comment on claims regarding Kireev’s alleged treason or on various reports which stated Kireev was killed by Ukrainian authorities.
