Police opens case over Armiya FM radio station explosion

Kyiv police have opened a case over illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, or explosives (Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) following the January 19 explosion in the Armiya FM radio station, the Kyiv Police announced on Facebook.

According to preliminary information, an army detonator displayed in the office as an exhibit went off.

“The explosion injured a woman born in 1999, she was hospitalized,” the police said.

Ukrainska Pravda reports, citing a source in law enforcement, that an Armiya FM host picked up a VP-9 bottom detonator while on air and began to fidget with it, causing an explosion at about 10:50 on January 19 in the Central House of UAF Officers on Hrushevskoho St. The source noted that the detonator was previously brought to the studio by a guest in the military as a mock-up of a used munition.

The explosion left the woman with shrapnel wounds to her arm and abdomen; she was taken to the hospital for medical treatment, her condition is stable.