Birthday grenade gift, explosion kills Ukrainian commander

A box of gifts arrived on the birthday. But the explosion happened when the box was opened. A Ukrainian commander lost his life along with his child.

According to the NDTV report, the grenade was sent inside the box as a birthday gift to the army officer. When the box exploded, the Ukrainian commander died along with his child.

According to the report, the deceased was an adviser to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, General Valery Zaluzhny, and one of the top commanders of the forces. His name is Gennady Chastiakov.

General Jalujhani confirmed this information on social media Telegram. The commander in chief of Ukraine said in a Telegram post, “It is with great sadness that one of the commanders of the Ukrainian forces and my assistant, Major Genandy Chastyakov, and his child (son) have been killed. Someone planted a bomb in his birthday gift box, which exploded and he died.’

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said in a statement on Telegram that the day was Major Chastyakov’s birthday and preliminary investigations revealed that Chastyakov’s son had brought a gift box from outside the door of the house and opened it in front of his father.

He further said that after opening the box, he found the grenade and started playing with it. As Chastyakov snatched the grenade from his son, the pin somehow came off, killing both father and son.

The gift box contained a total of three grenades and was sent by a Ukrainian army soldier, Ukrainian police said. The police have also arrested that army member.

Major Chastyakov, who died, was one of the honest, efficient and patriotic commanders of the Ukrainian forces, Commander-in-Chief General Zaluzhny said in a Telegram post.