Ukrainian military adviser receives grenade as birthday gift, dies after it explodes

(Image for representative purpose only, Credit: Getty Images)

An adviser close to the Ukrainian army's commander-in-chief was fatally killed when one of his birthday gifts, a grenade, exploded on Monday, officials confirmed. General Valery Zaluzhny expressed the tragic event on Telegram, attributing the incident to an "unknown explosive device" detonating among the gifts. "Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and close friend, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, was killed... on his birthday," General Valery Zaluzhny said on Telegram.

Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, showing his son a box containing grenades received as a gift, was detailed by Interior Minister Igor Klymenko in a statement on Telegram. Klymenko described the initial handling of the munition by the son, followed by the serviceman's intervention, which led to a tragic explosion upon pulling the grenade's ring.

"At first, the son took the munition in his hands and began to turn the ring. Then the serviceman took the grenade away from the child and pulled the ring, causing a tragic explosion," Klymenko said.

Police, as per Klymenko, have identified a fellow soldier responsible for the fatal gift and confiscated two similar grenades, as an investigation unfolds.

General Zaluzhny mourned the loss, highlighting that Chastiakov, survived by a wife and four children, had been wholeheartedly dedicated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression since the invasion in February 2022.

Assaults on Ukrainian leaders have been relatively infrequent since the Russian invasion. However, there have been numerous attacks on nationalists, attributed by Russia to Ukraine.

Notable incidents include the April death of a 40-year-old pro-Kremlin military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, from an explosion in a rigged statuette. The Kremlin alleged Ukraine's orchestration of the attack with supporters of imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, although observers suggested the attack might be used to justify further crackdowns on critics.

Last August, Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent ultranationalist intellectual, died in a car bombing near Moscow, with Russia blaming Ukraine for the incident. Kyiv denied the allegations.

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• Ukraine
• Russia