
An assistant and “close friend” to Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief was killed in an explosion at his home after he took a grenade he received as a birthday gift off his child’s hand, officials said.
Major Hennady Chastyakov, 39, returned home on Monday night with birthday gifts he had received from his colleagues. They included a box of Western-manufactured grenades he was showing to his son, Ukraine’s interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.