Ukrainian Soldier Terrified When Mate Hands Him ‘Live’ Grenade and Runs Off

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War can do strange things to men, and here is an example of that. After two Ukrainian soldiers had a falling out, one soldier decided to sort out their issues by putting his mate’s life on the line—with a live grenade! Not something we would normally expect armed forces to do to their fellow soldiers.

The two Ukrainian soldiers had been on duty in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, fighting for their country. After an argument, one soldier handed a live grenade to the other and said, “Here, hold this.” He had actually pulled the pin out of the grenade before handing it over, and he ran off to avoid an explosion. Luckily, the soldier holding the live grenade was calm in the face of danger, and he managed to push down hard on the safety lever, preventing the grenade from exploding in his face.

With no safe place to throw the grenade, the man proceeded to call for help, as he wasn’t sure what else he could do.

Passersby saw the man and called the police. Police then arrived at the scene and took the strange step of securing the grenade to the man’s hands. “A patrol [policeman] of the 2nd platoon of the 3rd company of the 2nd battalion Alexander Tsukanov grabbed the hands of [the] exhausted men[man],” said local police in Dnipro.

Obviously, he was feeling a certain amount of trepidation, and stress would make holding the grenade steady very difficult. “But even together they were [found it] hard to hold [the grenade] ammunition. Therefore, the police decided to bind his hands with duct tape and wait for the arrival of bomb experts,” the police said.

The bomb squad determined that the grenade was a fake, so everyone was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Well, actually not everyone—the “mate” who gave the grenade to his soldier friend is facing a seven-year jail term. Plenty of time to reflect on his silliness.

In yet another senseless act of playing around with a grenade—this time a real one—a Russian man named Alexander “Sasha” Chechik, 26, pulled out the pin while sitting in his car, just to take a selfie of himself. Tragically, the grenade exploded, killing him instantly.

The incident happened in Labinsk in southwest Russia. Russian news Kuban.kp.ru reported Chechik had been texting a friend and also sent a picture of himself holding the live grenade, with the pulled pin lying beside him.

His friend inquired if he was okay, to which Chechik replied, “It depends on what you mean OK,” according to the Independent. His friend became worried and asked Chechik his whereabouts, but sadly, there was no reply.

Police are treating the incident as an accident, not suicide, as he had sent photos of the live grenade to several of his friends, according to the Daily Mail. Police believe he mistakenly thought the live grenade would not explode unless he threw it. Unfortunately, this stupid act cost the man’s life.

Here’s a handy tip—handling any type of ammunition or explosive should only be done by trained experts.