Kiev announces that it staged the death of a Russian military chief who was fighting for Ukraine. “Congratulations on coming back to life”, Kirilo Budanov sends him – VIDEO

Ukraine revealed on Thursday that a Russian military commander fighting on the side of Kiev, whose death was announced last week, is actually alive and that his death was staged to identify Russian agents, reports Agence France Presse.

On December 27, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a unit fighting alongside the Ukrainian forces against the Russian invasion, announced the death on the front of its commander, Denis Kapustin, in the Zaporozhye sector (south), following an attack by Russian drones, and threatened reprisals.

Ukraine's military intelligence services (GUR) announced on Thursday that this death was fictitious and was part of a “special operation” that had been going on for over a month.

“Congratulations on your return to life, it's always a joy,” said the head of the GUR, Kirilo Budanov, in a video conference discussion with Denis Kapustin, broadcast by his services.

For his part, Denis Kapustin, known by the pseudonym “White Rex”, declared that he is ready to “return to the area of ​​operations” from the front and continue to command his unit.

The Ukrainians also collected the sum placed on Denis Kapustin's head

According to GUR, the false announcement of Kapustin's death was part of a complex operation that allowed the identification of individuals from the Russian security services who planned to assassinate him.

The $500,000 bounty placed by Moscow on Kapustin's head has been secured and the money will be redirected to support Ukraine's war effort, GUR also announced.

“I also received the amount of money allocated by the Russian special services to commit this crime,” namely $500,000, an anonymous GUR official said in this video.

💀 Russia paid half a million dollars
to “kill” Denis WhiteRex,
commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps.

Instead, GUR faked his death, took the money,
exposed the whole network of killers
and brought Kapustin back alive.

Welcome back, legend.

Meanwhile, Russian intel got… pic.twitter.com/RFDDmbSrhM

— Bandera Fella *-^ (@banderafella) January 1, 2026

The information provided by Kiev could not be independently verified, noted the German DPA agency, quoted by Agerpres.

Who are the “Russian Volunteers”. Who is Kapustin?

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) carried out cross-border raids on Russian territory, sometimes capturing and temporarily controlling villages and using fighters and heavy military equipment.

Ukrainian intelligence agencies have used similar deception tactics in the past. In 2018, authorities announced that Russian journalist and Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko had been assassinated in Kiev. Babcenko later resurfaced alive, with Ukrainian officials explaining that the ruse helped expose a real plot by Moscow to kill him.

A well-known personality in the environment of hooligans and the extreme right in Russia, Denis Kapustin was accused in the past of promoting neo-Nazi ideas, reports News.ro.

Known by several aliases, such as Nikitin or White Rex, Kapustin settled in Ukraine before the Russian invasion in February 2022, where he organized MMA fights and owned a clothing brand.

After taking up arms to fight for Kiev, he made a sensation in the spring of 2023. His unit then carried out border raids into Russia from Ukraine.