The head of the Ukrainian army delivered tragic news. "The gift exploded"

On Monday, in the village of Chaiki, Kyiv Oblast, a 39-year-old soldier died as a result of a grenade explosion in his house. The deceased Hennady Khastyakov was the adjutant of General Valery Zaluzhny, the head of the Ukrainian army. Khastyakov's 13-year-old son was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

According to “Ukrainian Pravda” law enforcement sources, the wife of the tragically deceased officer said that her husband brought home a bag of gifts containing a bottle of alcohol and glasses in the form of grenades. When he opened it, it exploded.

Earlier, the death "in tragic circumstances" of his adjutant and "close friend" was confirmed by General Zaluzhny. "I feel inexpressible pain. This is a heavy loss for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and for me personally. Today, my assistant and close friend, Major Hennady Chastyakov, died in tragic circumstances on his birthday celebrated in the family circle," the commander of the Ukrainian army said on social media.

War in Ukraine. Gen. Zaluzhny does not expect a breakthrough

Earlier, General Valery Zaluzhny said in an interview for "The Economist" that there will most likely be no breakthrough in the war in the near future, and therefore the front line will not change significantly. At the same time, he stated that the war in Ukraine was entering a new phase - a positional war - which played to Russia's advantage.

Zaluzhny added that according to the preliminary plan of the military command, Ukrainian forces should advance about 30 km a day. Meanwhile, at the very beginning of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainians got stuck in Russian minefields on an unprecedented scale.

– The greatest risk of trench warfare is that it may drag on for years and exhaust the Ukrainian state, Zaluzhny said, adding that prolonging the conflict favors Moscow. Among other things, this is because the West may get tired of the war, and Russia will be able to replenish its resources during this time.

OSW: First official confirmation of the failure of the counteroffensive

The Center for Eastern Studies estimates that Zaluzhny's statement is "the first official confirmation of the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive".

The pessimistic assessment of the prospects for waging a long-term trench war proves (...) that the Ukrainian authorities are aware of the growing risk of exhausting the human and material resources needed to conduct an armed conflict

we read in the OSW report summarizing the 617th day of the war.