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A close adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine died in an apparent accident Monday when a grenade that he’d been given as a birthday present exploded, local officials said.
Major Hennadiy Chastiakov, an assistant to General Valery Zaluzhny, was celebrating his 39th birthday when he showed his family gifts he’d received from colleagues. Chastiakov’s son, 13, was handling the grenade when disaster struck.
“First, the son took the ammunition and started turning the ring,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in an account of the death based on preliminary investigations posted on Telegram. “Then the serviceman took the grenade from the child and pulled out the ring, provoking a tragic explosion.”