(John Ransom, Headline USA) In a shocking development worthy of a Tom Clancy novel, Ukraine has shot and killed one its negotiators from peace talks with Russians, calling the death a “defense operation” with various accounts saying the man, Denis Kireev, was a Ukrainian hero or a traitor to Ukraine.
“Both Russia and Ukraine have made claims about his alleged spying activities, each blaming him of working for the other side,” reported the Daily Mail.
Nexta TV, an eastern European news service, tweeted a Ukrainian government statement with the Nexta comment: “The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence service said that Denys Kireyev was killed while carrying out a special assignment. There is no information about his treason or liquidation by the Ukrainian special services.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence service said that Denys Kireyev was killed while carrying out a special assignment.
There is no information about his treason or liquidation by the Ukrainian special services pic.twitter.com/2MT5P69slj
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 5, 2022
Another tweet showed Kireev, 45, apparently dead from a gunshot wound to the head on a sidewalk. The tweet claimed that “Intel Slava-Ukrainian media and ex-deputy of the Rada Dubinsky reported that the SBU killed one of the five negotiators from the Ukrainian side.”
But the Daily Mail reports a very different version of the Kireev’s death.
The Ukraine Ministry of Defense, according to the Daily Mail, said that, “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!”
Russia’s official news agency Tass said that a Ukrainian parliament member, Alexander Dubinsky, said on Saturday that Kireev was killed while he was being arrested by Ukrainian security service on suspicion of treason.
A photograph published by the UK’s Times showed Kireev seated on the far end of the table, on the Ukrainian side, last month as the negotiators met with their Russian counterparts at a special summit called to avert a war.
