Kireyev died on 5 March 2022. According to preliminary reports in Russian and Ukrainian media, he was suspected of working as a
double agent for Russia and was killed by the
Security Service of Ukraine (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, 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)
Kyrylo Budanov stated that Kireyev was the one who, on 23 February 2022, warned GUR of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. 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. The security forces took him to
Kharkiv, 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
Kyiv in January-February 2022, and a few hours before the
Russian invasion, he described in detail the main location of the attack on the
Antonov Airport in
Hostomel. This intelligence provided several hours for the deployment of some amount of Ukrainian troops and helped to defend
Kyiv at the beginning of the invasion. Budanov said that
Kyiv most likely would have been occupied if not for Kireyev. In January 2023, Zelenskyy's advisor
Mykhailo Podolyak said that Kireyev's death was a tragic mistake possibly due to "poor coordination" between the GUR and the SBU. == References ==