Booby-Trapped Gift Kills Ukraine Major on His Birthday

A booby-trapped birthday gift killed a close adviser of the Ukrainian army's commander-in-chief, the military commander announced Monday. "Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and close friend, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, was killed … on his birthday," Gen Valery Zaluzhny posted on Telegram. An "unknown explosive device detonated in one of his gifts," Zaluzhny said. The Guardian notes that attacks targeting Ukrainian leaders have been "relatively rare" since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, and the Telegraph calls it "a rare success for Russian special forces." Chastiakov leaves behind a wife and four children.

Ukraine's interior minister says that Chastiakov was showing his son a box of grenades he had received as a gift. "At first, the son took the munition in his hands and began to turn the ring," Igor Klymenko posted on Telegram. "Then the serviceman took the grenade away from the child and pulled the ring, causing a tragic explosion." The 13-year-old boy reportedly suffered serious injuries. Klymenko says one of Chastiakov's fellow soldiers gave him the grenade in question, and that the incident is being probed. Before his death Chastiakov, 39, had been, per Zaluzhny, "fully devoting his life to the armed forces of Ukraine and the fight against Russian aggression." (More Ukraine stories.)