2023-11-07 15:11:44
The Kiev Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the death of one of the top advisors to the head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who lost his life on Monday when a grenade exploded while he was celebrating his birthday with his family. The strange event has shocked the Government of Volodymyr Zelensky and the General Staff, although the first investigations indicate that the commander, Hennadii Chastiakov, had received six hand bombs as a gift from an army colleague and one of them exploded when his son 13 years old, who was seriously injured, was playing with the ring.
The explosion unleashed all kinds of alarms in the Ukrainian Administration. “I pray to God that this was a tragic coincidence and not a targeted attack,” said Dana Yarova, a member of the Defense Ministry’s Anti-Corruption Council. Chastiakov’s boss, General Valery Zaluzhny, later announced that an ongoing investigation would certify whether his deputy, a 39-year-old man in his “utmost confidence,” was murdered or died accidentally “under tragic circumstances.” In the Ministry of the Interior, the possibility of a Russian attack through infiltrated agents was even considered.
Hennadii Chastiakov, the deceased military advisor.
However, the first investigations indicate that it all began when Chastiakov “returned home from work” with several gifts from his fellow soldiers. Among them, a box with six Western-made hand bombs inside. The Police have already located the friend who gave him the gift, who had two other identical grenades in his possession, and could be accused of illegal handling of weapons of war. “The Police found a fellow soldier who made the fatal gift,” confirmed the Ministry of the Interior. This is a colonel named Timchenko, who decided to give his colleague this ammunition and a bottle of black label whiskey placed inside a wooden box.
Three witnesses confirmed the delivery of the package to Chastiakov. «It’s hard to surprise you. That’s why I’m giving you grenades and a bottle of good whiskey,” Timchenko told him. Apparently, the victim took the grenades as a joke, thinking that it was a set of glasses made in that shape.
Once at his home, the Ukrainian high command “took out the gift box with grenades inside and began to show one of them to his son,” said Interior Minister Igor Klymenko, who added that the boy took the bomb and began to rotate the safety ring. His father reacted reflexively and snatched the device from him, which allegedly caused the ring to come off permanently and the grenade to detonate.
The explosion hit the soldier and seriously injured his son, who is admitted to a kyiv hospital. His wife and an 11-year-old daughter, who were also celebrating his birthday, suffered minor injuries. The events occurred at the family home in the village of Chayki, on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.
One of the concerns of the West is to control the destination of the arsenals that are sent to kyiv. Reuters
Klymenko added that security forces found another five identical bombs scattered on the ground. “The causes and circumstances of the incident are currently being established, witnesses are being questioned and a series of examinations are being prepared,” the minister explained in a statement.
Chastiakov’s wife told the police that her husband had arrived home with several packages of gifts and that the grenades were in one of them, which also included a bottle of liquor. She corroborated the version that they initially thought the ammunition was fake. «The grenades are thrown, they are not delivered. Not kept at home,” Mariana Bezuhla, a deputy and employee of the Ministry of Defense, wrote on Facebook. Bezuhla has become known in this war for introducing a bill, eventually withdrawn, that empowered commanders to execute soldiers who refused to follow orders in combat.
In government media, the astonishment is enormous due to the apparent lack of control in the possession and handling of weapons of war that the accident demonstrates. The fact that a colonel had grenades in his house and even gave them away without giving it much importance is a severe setback for a Ministry of Defense plagued by corruption cases, to the point of forcing the dismissal of its previous head. It is not the best moment for Volodymyr Zelensky’s Executive, which this Wednesday undergoes a new review by the European Union on its progress in the fight against corruption and which is also subject to constant international scrutiny on the use and destination of the arsenals sent. by the allies. The detonated bomb belonged to a new Western model that arrived in kyiv in recent shipments.
Valeriy Zaluzhny, during a meeting of the Defense Cabinet. Reuters
The commander of the Defense Forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny, has said that the loss of his deputy represents a “big blow” for the army. Chastiakov was an important military advisor, laureate and who had studied in Odessa. Zelensky’s presidential office has remained silent on these events while the Ministry of Defense has called to “stick to official information” about the case.
On Friday, Zaluzhny made unprecedented statements in a press article where he stated that the war with Russia was at a “stalemate” and would continue in a “dead end” if there was no change in balance due to the high technological level of Russia. combat of both sides. Zaluzhny admitted his miscalculation in thinking that Moscow would suffer “wear and tear” that would lead it to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and was betting on finding a solution to a blockade that continues to cost dozens of lives every day.
Such words, from the mouth of the head of the Armed Forces, made Zelensky especially uncomfortable, who this weekend disavowed his top military chief. The idea has spread in his government that the prolongation of the war is beginning to tire the Western allies, and that it is necessary to “provide them with victories” to guarantee that weapons supplies will continue to reach Kiev. To the further annoyance of the Ukrainian president, Zaluzhny carried out these demonstrations on the eve of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, visiting Kiev on Saturday to show community support for the country at a time when the war with Russia seems to have passed. to the background due to the Israeli conflict and cracks can be seen in allied support.
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