Deputy Commander and Ka-52 Helicopter Pilot - Colonel

Unit: 344th Center for Combat Use and Retraining of Flight Personnel (Army Aviation)

Cargo ID: #345

Full Name: Vasily Petrovich Kleshchenko

Russian Name: Василий Петрович Клещенко

Date of Birth: 28 October 1976 (age: 45 years)

Place of Birth: Ivanovka village, Ivanovsky district, Amur oblast, Russia

Place of Death: Husarivka, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine (Igla ManPAD, 93rd "Kholodny Yar" Mechanized Brigade)

Registered Address: Russia, Tver oblast, Torzhok, Engelsa Street 6

Education: Ussuriysk Suvorov Military School (1993), Syzran Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots (1998), Air Force Academy (Voronezh, 2010)

Awards: Hero of Russia (August 6, 2022, ph.), others under investigation

"Colonel Kleshchenko was awarded the Nesterov medal, the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree with swords, and 15 medals of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. By decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated August 6, 2022, Colonel Vasily Petrovich Kleshchenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously) for courage and heroism shown in the performance of military duty."

Passport Information: series 1002 № 309498

After graduating from college in 1998, he served in various flight positions. He participated in the hostilities in Tajikistan and the second Chechen war. He mastered the Mi-24, Mi-35M, Mi-8, Mi-28N and Ka-52 helicopters, had a total flight time of 2250 hours.
Last year, on the initiative of the head of the region, the name of Hero of Russia Vasily Kleshchenko was given to school No. 5, as well as to the street where the 344th Center for Combat Use and Retraining of Flight Personnel of the Russian Ministry of Defense is located .

A memorial plaque was unveiled in the Tver region to Hero of Russia Vasily Kleshchenko, who died during the Northern Military District.
28 April 2023,

On August 18, the Gold Star of the Hero of Russia was handed over to the family of the deceased in Torzhok, where V.P. Kleshchenko was buried....
Vasily Kleshchenko, survived by his wife and two daughters.
"Farewell to Colonel V. P. Kleshchenko, military pilot, deputy. Head of the 344 Center The BPIP of the flight crew of the army aviation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, who died on a KA-52 helicopter during a special operation in the Donbas, will take place on August 4 2022 at 10.30 in the city House of Culture."