Grenade event in Zakarpattia, Keretsky area, Ukraine on Fri 15th December 2023

A village councillor in western Ukraine has thrown grenades on to the floor of a council meeting, wounding 26 people, police say.

The attack took place on Friday morning at the village council headquarters in Keretsky in the western Transcarpathian region.

Police have not yet commented on a possible motive for the attack, which has left six seriously wounded.

The meeting was being livestreamed on Facebook when the incident took place.

Councillors had been holding a heated discussion about their budget for 2024 as well as this year's financial results and holding a vote on awarding the council chief a bonus.

Almost 90 minutes into the meeting, the footage shows one of the village councillors shouting, objecting to the budget. The man, wearing a dark jacket, then leaves the room, taking another man with him.

A few minutes later he returns and stands in front of the door. Shortly afterwards he takes several grenades out of his jacket pockets.

He briefly tries to attract people's attention, saying "May I, may I?", before tossing the grenades into the middle of the room. Moments later they explode.

"As a result, 26 people were wounded, six of whom are in a grave condition," the police statement said, adding that medics were trying to resuscitate the man who threw the grenades. There have been no further updates on his condition since then.

Many Ukrainians have access to weaponry due to the war with Russia, but there is no evidence yet that the attack was related to the conflict.

Keretsky is a village of some 4,000 people not far from the Hungarian border.

Ukrainian police say the SBU security service will investigate the incident as a "terrorist attack".