WARSAW, Poland (AP) — New regulations in Poland require specialized police to go through training with grenade launchers, which media interpreted as a reaction to the Polish police chief’s accidental detonation of such a weapon that had been a gift from Ukraine.
The updated instructions for police training in weapons use took effect Jan. 1.
They were approved by the interior minister just two days after a grenade launcher — a gift from Ukraine officials — exploded unexpectedly Dec. 14 as Poland’s police chief, Gen. Jaroslaw Szymczyk was moving it in his office. He and another person were slightly injured.
In explaining the accident, Szymczyk said he had been assured that the gift launcher was free of explosives.
Some politicians in Poland argued that police should be made better acquainted with such weapons, while the media linked the regulations update to the accident.
Poland has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia, and Poland’s top government officials repeatedly visited Kyiv last year.
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