The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko has announced the official version of the death of the Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyi - he died as a result of careless handling of a grenade.
"I am officially informing you that as a result of the initial investigative actions, we managed to find out the first circumstances of the tragedy. Today was Major Chastyakov's birthday. He returned home from work with gifts from his colleagues, which he began to show to his family," Klymenko wrote in his telegram channel.
According to him, the deceased received a gift box with grenades inside and began to show one of the munitions to his son.
"It was a new Western-style grenade. At first, the son took the munition in his hands and started to turn the ring. Then the serviceman took the grenade away from the child and pulled the ring, provoking a tragic explosion," said the Interior Minister.
Klymenko also noted that the police found 5 more such unexploded grenades in the apartment. They will be sent for examination.
In addition, according to him, police found a fellow serviceman who gave the "fatal gift". His office has already been searched and 2 more similar grenades have been seized. Priority investigative actions are underway.
"I urge you not to spread unofficial information. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing, wait for the official conclusions of the investigation," the Interior Minister summarized.
According to media reports, the grenades were part of a "gift set" presented to him by his colleague, Colonel Tymchenko, for his birthday. He has reportedly already testified that he decided to make such a gift himself, putting a bottle of Black Label whiskey and six grenades in a wooden box.
This was also confirmed by three witnesses who saw the colonel handing over the gift. He even said to Chastyakov: "It's hard to surprise you, so I'm giving you grenades and a bottle of good whiskey."
The media also reported that two similar grenades were found in the possession of Tymchenko, who kept them for himself. It is assumed that Chastyakov thought it was a joke and that the grenades were not real. And that they were not grenades, but "shot glasses of a specific shape".
Earlier we reported that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyi confirmed the tragic death of his assistant Gennadiy Chastyakov.
