Volodymyr Kondratenko was raised in an abusive household where his perfectionist father inflicted beatings for any imperfection, especially in school. Early trauma deeply affected his mental health. Initially a bright student, he began to unravel emotionally, eventually becoming reclusive, withdrawn, and mentally unstable.

After dropping out of college, he served in the Soviet Army where he endured violent hazing and sustained head injuries. Post-discharge, he was beaten again by his father for not wearing his uniform. A severe case of jaundice left permanent facial marks, worsening his self-esteem. He later became suicidal and was institutionalized, but released after being deemed “sane.” His relationship with his father remained toxic, and the desire to move out became his obsession.

Volodymyr Dmytrovych Kondratenko’s involvement in Ukraine’s “Nighttime Killers” case stands out not just for its brutality, but for the calculated coldness with which he executed his crimes. His childhood, filled with severe beatings from a perfectionist father, seems to have laid the groundwork for his later detachment and emotional dissociation. While his partner Volkovich provided ideas and assistance, Kondratenko was most often the man who pulled the trigger.

The earliest murders, committed in the early 1990s, were experiments in killing. Kondratenko and Volkovich killed homeless people using a concealed .22 sporting rifle and knives. The goal was to practice murder as a skill, with the long-term aim of becoming professional contract killers. As the killings increased, so did the body count and the confidence of the killers.

Kondratenko was typically the one to fire the fatal shot. According to later reconstructions, Volkovich would wave down a car while hitchhiking, pretending to need help to pick up a friend and a package. The “friend” waiting would be Kondratenko, and the box would contain the murder weapon. As the car pulled up, Kondratenko would shoot the driver at point-blank range. They killed at least seven people using this method and stole many of the cars, which they later sold or used in other crimes.

On June 18, 1996, their crimes took a more public turn with the murder of Yevheniy Osechkin. He was shot and stabbed near a busy train station. Forensics uncovered the use of a .22 round, and investigators linked it to a prior killing in the area. Over the next few months, more murders followed, including Dr. Oleksandr Yehorov, partygoer Oleksandr Shpack, and several unnamed victims.

What made Kondratenko’s behavior particularly shocking was his involvement in the investigation of one of his own murders. After killing Oleksandr Bykov—a man he had known for years—Kondratenko maintained a relationship with Bykov’s wife and even escorted her to the morgue. He inserted himself into the police investigation and posed as a helpful bystander, all while hiding his guilt.

He was finally identified through surveillance of the building where Bykov was killed. Once police realized he had offered assistance earlier and matched the witness sketches, they connected him to the murders. He was arrested along with Volkovich, and both confessed.

Kondratenko also implicated two additional individuals:

• Andriy Tymoshyn, a former senior customs inspector, who allegedly commissioned one murder for personal reasons
• Serhiy Tretiachenko, who aided in a burglary involving a planned murder

Though charged with 16 murders, the pair had confessed to over 20. Many of the victims, believed to be homeless, were never officially identified. Kondratenko never faced a full trial. Just days into the proceedings in 2000, he died by suicide, overdosing on prescription medication while in custody.

After his death, Volkovich tried to shift all responsibility onto him, but the court didn’t accept the revised testimony.