Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny’s aide and “close friend, Major Hennadiy Chastiakov” died in a strange explosion in his house. There may be no connection with the public spat between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Zaluzhny, but the violent death of Hennadiy Chastiakov occurred less than 48 hours after Zelenskyy took public issue with Zaluzhny’s comments in an interview with the City of London-based weekly, The Economist, that Ukraine did not have the ability to win the war against Russia. And over the last 24 hours, the authorities are aggressively pushing an “accident”’ narrative, attempting to preempt a serious investigation.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Mariann Reva, in comments to Ukrinform yesterday, had a curious way of explaining that the police were investigating: “Accordingly, criminal proceedings have been launched due to the death of a person and careless handling of ammunition.” The inclusion of “careless handling” is already stating the results of the investigation before it has gotten started. The issue is whether a bizarre coincidence has occurred or whether a very nasty message has been sent to Zaluzhny.
Also yesterday, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko weighed in on his Telegram channel with a narrative, apparently to deal with the situation and lay down the law. In translation, the post reads: “The tragedy in [Kiev’s suburb of] Chayki is beginning to be overgrown with various information ‘sources.’ Therefore I officially announce: As a result of primary investigative actions, it was possible to find out the first circumstances of the tragedy.
“Today was the birthday of the deceased Major Chatyakov. He returned home from work with gifts from his colleagues and began to show relatives. He took out a gift box with grenades inside and started showing one of the grenades to his son. These were grenades of the new Western model. First the son took the ammunition and started turning the ring. Then the serviceman took the grenade from the child and pulled out the ring, provoking a tragic explosion.
