The Chief of Police in Poland, General Jarosław Szymczyk detailed the gift from Ukraine that exploded this week.
The senior police officer said in a radio broadcast that the grenade launcher, which was given to him by Ukrainian officials, exploded by accidentas he moved it to his office this week.
General Jarosław Szymczyk first told Polish radio station RMF FM about the unusual incident.
AP reported it. The agency recalls that the explosion took place on Wednesday morning at the headquarters of the national police in Warsaw. Amid media speculation about the blast, the Interior Ministry released a statement on Thursday saying so a gift from Ukraine exploded and that gen. Jaroslav Szymczyk and one other person sustained minor injuries.
But the official statement left many questions unanswered, including what the gift was and who caused the explosion.
The senior police officer confirmed reports in Polish media that the gift was a grenade launcher.
RMF FM, citing police officials, said Szymczyk received two used anti-tank grenade launchers as a gift during a recent visit to Ukraine. No other detailsbut the report suggests that neither the Ukrainians nor the Poles believed the grenade launchers had explosive potential.
“As I was carrying the used grenade launchers, which were a gift from the Ukrainians, an explosion was heard,” Szymczyk told the radio station. According to him, the explosion was so powerful that the force of the blast punched the floor and ceiling.
Szymczyk was initially hospitalized for observation, while the other person, a civilian employee, did not require hospitalization.
Poland is an ally of Ukraine and has offered the neighboring country various types of support, including military and humanitarian aid, since Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February. Poland has also adopted e large number of Ukrainian refugees.
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