A close adviser to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army was killed when a grenade among his birthday gifts exploded yesterday, officials said.
"Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and close friend, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, was killed...on his birthday," General Valery Zaluzhny said on Telegram, saying that an "unknown explosive device detonated in one of his gifts".
Mr Chastiakov was showing his son a box with grenades inside that he had received as a gift, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in a statement on Telegram.
"At first, the son took the munition in his hands and began to turn the ring. Then the serviceman took the grenade away from the child and pulled the ring, causing a tragic explosion," Mr Klymenko said.
Police have identified a fellow soldier who gave the fatal gift, he said, adding an investigation was under way.
Mr Chastiakov leaves a wife and four children, Mr Zaluzhny said.
He added that since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Mr Chastiakov had been "fully devoting his life to the armed forces of Ukraine and the fight against Russian aggression".
An investigation into the incident has been launched, he said.
Attacks targeting Ukrainian leaders have been relatively rare since Moscow invaded, but there have been several attacks on nationalists which Russia has blamed on Ukraine.
In April, a blast from a statuette rigged with explosives killed 40-year-old pro-Kremlin military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky.
The Kremlin said the attack had been orchestrated by Ukraine with the help of supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
But observers said the bombing attack could be used to justify a further crackdown on critics.
And last August, Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent ultranationalist intellectual, was killed in a car bombing outside Moscow, which Russia blamed on Ukraine.
Kyiv denied the charges.
It comes as Russia foiled an attempted Ukrainian drone attack this morning, shooting down drones over the Black Sea and the annexed Crimean peninsula, Moscow's defence ministry said.
"On the morning of 7 November, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using 17 unmanned aerial vehicles against buildings on Russian territory was stopped," the defence ministry said.
"Anti-aircraft defences destroyed nine Ukrainian drones and eight others were intercepted over the Black Sea and the territory of Crimea," it added.
Moscow and Kyiv have been launching overnight drone attacks at each other for months, with both sides typically claiming to have disabled or shot down dozens every week.
Falling debris injured one man, leaving him in a serious condition, Mikhail Razvozhayev the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol said.
There was no other serious damage, Mr Razvozhayev said.
