The Polish police chief said the explosion that hit him last week was caused by a grenade launcher – a gift from Ukraine.
The Polish police chief said the explosion that took him to hospital last week was caused by a grenade launcher he received as a gift from Ukraine.
Jaroslav Simsek’s comments to a local radio station on Saturday are the first to reveal details about the explosion that occurred in his Warsaw office on Wednesday.
The Polish Interior Ministry, which announced the incident last week, has not confirmed media reports that the explosion was caused by a grenade launcher.
Simsek told Polish radio station RMF FM that he had received two used bombers as gifts during a visit to Ukraine and that one of them had been converted into a loudspeaker.
“When I was transporting the used grenade launchers, which were gifts from the Ukrainians, there was an explosion,” Chimchik told the private broadcasting station.
He said he was moving the launchers upright at the time of the explosion.
The explosion was severe. The bullet pierced the floor and damaged the roof.
The RMF quoted a source from the Polish delegation that visited Ukraine as saying that the police chief received the launchers from officials as a gift during visits to the Ukrainian police and emergency services on December 11 and 12.
Ukrainian officials confirmed to the Polish delegation that the launchers had not been loaded, the source told the RMF.
The RMF reported that the Polish delegation drove them back to Warsaw before leaving them in the back room of Szymczyk’s office.
The blast sent Şimşek to hospital with minor injuries but he has since been released from the hospital.
A civilian employee of the Polish police also sustained minor injuries that did not require hospitalization.
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian police or Ukraine’s state emergency service.
Polish authorities are now investigating the incident.
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