WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s most senior police officer was injured and hospitalised when a present he received during a visit to Ukraine exploded at police headquarters in Warsaw, Poland’s interior ministry said on Thursday.
Jaroslaw Szymczyk, Commander in Chief of the Polish police, received the gift from one of the heads of the Ukrainian emergency services during a visit to the country on Dec. 11-12.
“As a result of the explosion, the Commander suffered minor injuries and has been in the hospital for observation since yesterday,” a ministry statement said, adding the incident took place on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear what the present was.
The ministry said a civilian employee at police headquarters was also injured but did not need to be hospitalised.
There was no immediate reply from Ukraine’s SBU security service to a Reuters request for comment on the incident.
Polish media had earlier reported that an explosion at police headquarters had injured Szymczyk and damaged the ceiling in the building.
“The Polish side asked the Ukrainian side to provide relevant explanations,” the ministry said.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Editing by William Maclean)
