Over the course of three days, two tragic events took place, resulting in the deaths of 20 Ukrainian servicemen

In recentdays, two events have resulted in significant non-combat losses to the ArmedForces of Ukraine. First, due to the negligence of a military officer in thefront-line area, about two dozen servicemen lost their lives, and just a few dayslater, the Deputy Commaner-in-Chief of the Urkainian Armed Forces, GennadiyChastiyakov, tragically lost his life at his home.

NegligentShow

On November3, Ukraine celebrated the Day of Missile Forces and Artillery. In honor of theholiday, the commander of the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, DmytroLysiuk, decided to award his soldiers and ordered them to assemble at thebuilding in the village of Dymytrovo in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, which islocated near the front line.

Initially,the award ceremony was scheduled for 9:00, but it was later postponed to 9:30.The military had already lined up and were waiting for their commander. Around10:10, russian invaders struck the location of the event with an Iskander-Mballistic missile. As a result of the attack, 19 Ukrainian servicemen losttheir lives, according to hromadske.

As reportedby sources, the russians were monitoring the 128th brigade's fighters with areconnaissance drone, adjusted and planned the missile strike. However, theoccupiers made a mistake and hit a building behind the soldiers, closer to theroad. Consequently, those soldiers who were closer to the road lost theirlives, and the wall of the building that the missile hit provided some coverfor the soldiers who were to be awarded (gun commanders, artillerymen, andgunners). This reduced the number of casualties among the personnel, but manysoldiers suffered injuries from debris.

Theexplosion wave and debris damaged about 30 nearby buildings and structures.Local residents in the village were also affected.

Commanderof the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, Dmytro Lysiuk, arrived at the sceneof the tragedy just 2 minutes after the incident and was unharmed.

The StateInvestigation Bureau registered acriminal case  under the article "negligence of a military servicemember."

On November6, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced thesuspension  of the commander of the 128th brigade, Dmytro Lysiuk, duringthe investigation of the soldiers' deaths.

"Duringthe investigation, the brigade commander has been suspended. The situation isbeing examined minute by minute. Whoever specifically violated the rulesregarding the safety of people in the area of enemy aerial reconnaissance willbe held responsible," said the head of state.

Forcontext, journalist Volodymyr Boyko reported on his Facebook  page thatin 2019, the commander of the brigade, Dmytro Lysiuk, was fined 119,000hryvnias for the illegal movement and sale of contraband cigarettes from the"luhansk people's republic," a quasi-terrorist entity.

Accordingto information from the journalist, Lysiuk, who was a lieutenant colonel at thetime, was the commander of the 8th Separate Battalion of the 10th SeparateMountain Assault Brigade. Law enforcement agencies also indicated that he wasinvolved in criminal activities at the end of 2018 to the beginning of 2019 andhad an accomplice.

However,the current commander of the 128th brigade managed to avoid arrest and wasreleased on bail, while his accomplice was released on bail of 286,000hryvnias. On July 30, 2019, both suspects pleaded guilty and made an agreementwith the prosecutor.

The 128thMountain Assault Brigade is a unit of mountain infantry of the Land Forceswithin the framework of the Western Operational Command. The brigade'sheadquarters is located in Mukachevo, and its units are stationed in the ZakarpattiaOblast.

The servicemenof the brigade liberated Kherson and fought near Bakhmut. In early January2023, they returned to the Zaporizhzhia direction. In June 2023, the fightersliberated the villages of Lobkovo and Piatykhatky.

Chief ofthe General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyi lost hisassistant

Unfortunately,these tragic incidents for the Ukrainian army did not end there. Just threedays after the death of the servicemen of the 128th brigade, on the evening ofNovember 6, 39-year-old Gennadiy Chastiyakov, who held the position ofAssistant to the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,tragically lost his life in the village of Chaiki in the Kyiv region.

As reportedby Espreso,  theserviceman came home with gifts for his birthday. When he opened a box with abottle and shot glasses, an explosion occurred.

At first,the tragedy seemed like a planned sabotage operation. However, later, theNational Police reported that the majordied  as a result of careless handling of ammunition.

Theinvestigation preliminarilyfound  that Colonel Tymchenko presented the gift to his colleague. Hesaid, "It's hard to surprise you, so I'm giving you military grenades anda bottle of good whisky," and then placed a bottle of Black Label whiskyand 6 grenades in a wooden box.

Later, themajor picked up his children from school, came home, and started unpacking thegifts with them. Presumably, he thought that Tymchenko was joking and that thebox contained shot glasses of a specific shape, not actual grenades.Chastiyakov's son picked up one of the grenades and started turning the pin.Gennadiy Chastiyakov grabbed the grenade from the child, pulled the pin, and triggeredan explosion.

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Theserviceman died on the spot. His 13-year-old son was seriously injured and isunder medical supervision. His wife and daughter were at home but were notharmed. In the apartment, five more such unexploded grenades were found, andthey were sent for examination.

TheMinister of Internal Affairs, IhorKlymenko, reported  that the colleague who gave Chastiakov the grenadeshad been identified. Two similar grenades were found in his office during asearch.

A case hasbeen opened under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which deals withunlawful handling of weapons, ammunition, or explosives. The investigation isongoing. There are no grounds to suggest either an assassination attempt or a russianconnection.

The Chiefof the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, referred to the death  of GennadiyChastiyakov as an indescribable pain and a significant loss for the ArmedForces of Ukraine and for himself personally.