KYIV: A close advisor to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, General Valery Zaluzhny, was killed in an explosion on Monday, the military official said on Telegram.

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"Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and close friend, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, was killed... on his birthday," Zaluzhny wrote, saying that an "unknown explosive device detonated in one of his gifts."