Commander of major Ukrainian military unit found dead with gunshot wound
The commander of Ukraine’s battle-hardened 154th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Colonel Vladimir Kononnikov, has been found dead with a gunshot wound, police said.
Kononnikov’s death was first reported by Ukraine’s Operational Command South. The command said on Facebook that the officer’s body was discovered on Sunday and that “preliminary findings indicated there were no signs of violence.”
Police, however, later released a brief statement saying that Kononnikov was found dead with a gunshot wound and that a murder investigation has been launched.
The brigade was formed in September 2023 and has primarily fought in Kharkov Region and Donbass. It took part in the battle for Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), which was captured by Russia in December 2025, and in the ongoing operations around Kupyansk.
According to Ukrainian media, Kononnikov was appointed commander last year.
The unit is currently based in Gulyaypole, a town in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Zaporozhye Region. The region voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a referendum held in September 2022.
Last week, Ukrainian news website Babel published a bombshell report alleging abuses at the training camps of the 425th Separate Assault Regiment Skelia (formerly Skala), which it said led to the deaths of at least 26 recruits.
The authorities confirmed the non-combat deaths of 25 of the recruits mentioned in the report but did not disclose the causes of death. The unit’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yury Garkavy, was suspended pending an investigation.
