Polish Police Chief Says Ukrainians Presented Him With Combat Grenade Launchers Instead of Used Ones

The Polish Interior Ministry said on Friday that apart from Szymczyk, a civilian employee at his headquarters was injured in the explosion of a grenade launcher, but that he did not need hospital treatment.

Polish police chief Jaroslaw Szymczyk, who was recently injured after one of two grenade launchers presented to him by Ukrainian officials exploded at his headquarters, has told a Polish media outlet that the hand mortars were most likely military-grade weapons rather than used ones.

Szymczyk said that the incident took place when he attempted to move the gifts to the back of his office. He added that the moment he started to rearrange one of the grenade launchers vertically on the floor, an explosion occurred.

“The powerful blast ripped through the floor and damaged the ceiling,” the police chief pointed out.

The media outlet quoted unnamed sources as saying that Szymczyk was presented with two anti-tank grenade launchers, probably German­-made RGW-90s.

The sources claimed that Szymczyk received the gift from Ukraine’s top police chief and the head of the country’s state emergency service, who allegedly assured that the single-shot hand mortars had already been used.

This comes after the Polish police chief, along with a civilian employee at his headquarters in the capital Warsaw, suffered minor injuries in an explosion that occurred in a room next to Szymczyk’s office at 07:50 local time (06:50 GMT) on Wednesday.

Poland asked Ukraine to provide "relevant explanations," but Kiev has yet to make a public statement on the incident, which is being investigated by the regional prosecutor's office in Warsaw.