A close adviser to the head of Ukraine’s armed forces was killed Monday by an explosive device hidden inside a gift that had been given to him for his birthday.
“An unknown explosive device went off in one of the gifts,” Valeriy Zaluzhny wrote on Telegram Monday evening local time following the death of Major Gennadiy Chastyakov.
Zaluzhny called Chastyakov “my assistant and close friend” and said the 39-year-old’s death marked a “heavy loss for the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
The Ukrainska Pravda news outlet, citing sources in law enforcement, said the blast was caused by a grenade hidden inside a gift bag that consisted of a bottle of alcohol and shot glasses, among which a real explosive was hidden.
Zaluzhny said an investigation into the killing is under way.
Chastyakov’s 13-year-old son was seriously injured and is being treated in hospital, Ukraine’s National Police said in a statement.
