Zaluzhny writes: “Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and close family friend was killed.”
The explosive is said to have been among his birthday gifts. Chistyakov’s death was initially considered an assassination attempt, but further details later emerged. A statement from Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko revealed that Chistyakov showed his son a box of grenades he had received as a gift.
The son allegedly took a grenade and turned the ring. The major took the explosive from the boy’s hands and “pulled the ring, causing a tragic explosion,” Klymenko said. The son was seriously injured in the incident, while the wife and a daughter were unharmed.
There are different stories going around about the explosion. The Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reports that according to the victim’s wife, her husband brought home a gift bag. It would have contained a bottle of liquor and drinking glasses in the shape of grenades. When he tried to open the gift, it exploded.
According to General Zaluzhny, the deceased major had completely devoted his life to the armed forces of Ukraine and ‘the fight against Russian aggression.’
Tags: Ukraines top army chief dead exploding grenade birthday
