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- A Polish police commander suffered minor injuries after a gift he received from Ukraine exploded.
- Polish authorities said the present was from a head of Ukraine’s law enforcement and rescue agencies.
- Poland said on Thursday that it’s asked Ukraine for an explanation.
Poland is seeking answers from Ukraine after a Ukrainian official’s gift to a top Polish police commander exploded near the latter’s office, authorities said on Thursday.
Jarosław Szymczyk, the chief of Poland’s police, suffered minor injuries from the explosion on Wednesday and was admitted to a hospital for observation, the Polish Interior Ministry said in a statement.
“Yesterday at 7:50 a.m., an explosion occurred in a room adjacent to the office of the Police Commander-in-Chief,” the statement read.
“One of the presents the Commandant received during his working visit to Ukraine on December 11 and 12 exploded,” it continued.
According to the statement, the gift was from a head official of the Ukrainian Police and Emergency Situations.
A civilian employee at the Polish headquarters also suffered minor injuries but did not require hospitalization, the ministry said.
The ministry said it asked Ukraine for an explanation and that a case was opened with the prosecutor’s office and corresponding services.
The incident comes a month after a missile strike during a Russian attack on Ukraine killed two people in Poland. Both NATO and Poland later said the missile was likely Ukrainian air defence, though NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was still to blame for the deaths because it launched the initial attack.
Poland’s Interior Ministry and Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
