Brigade commander of the 31st Ulyanovsk infantry battalion Andrei Kondrashkin / 73online.ru died

Colonel Alexander Khodakovsky, deputy head of the Russian National Guard Directorate for the DPR, reported this late in the evening of September 17.

44-year-old Andrei Kondrashkin had the call sign “Danube,” RBC clarifies. There are no details or location of the brigade commander’s death yet. He has led the Ulyanovsk paratroopers for the last two years. There are no official statements from the 31st Brigade at the time of publication.

“While we were fighting hand in hand, we became friends with Andrei, and today we were deeply hurt by the news of his death. We offer our condolences to his family and friends, his comrades… I am sure that the wings of his airborne soul will quickly take him to the Throne of God, where he will sit and wait for us – we still need to work a little,” writes Alexander Khodakovsky in his official Telegram channel.

He said that he met him immediately after the capture of Mariupol, when Vostok was given new tasks and the battalion had to act together with the soldiers of the 31st Ulyanovsk Air Assault Brigade.

Khodakovsky brought condolences to Kondrashkin’s family and friends, his comrades in arms.

The website of the Ministry of Defense states that at the end of 2017, the Ulyanovsk air assault brigade was recognized as the best among the air assault formations of the Russian Airborne Forces. According to Kommersant, the brigade took part in the battles for Gostomel.

Open sources say that Andrei Kondrashkin also commanded the 56th Guards Separate Air Assault Brigade. In a 2020 interview, he said that he participated in three armed conflicts.

“Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming a military man, specifically a paratrooper,” said Andrei Kondrashkin. “My parents recalled that back in first grade I wrote the word Airborne Forces in block letters and drew a parachute. I decided to seriously get a military profession and serve in the Airborne Forces in the eighth grade. Military service is, first of all, a job I love. Today, the main thing for me is my large family, my parents, wife, daughters, I want to pay more attention to them,” he said in a conversation with reporters.

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Andrey Kondrashkin was born in 1979. In 2001 he graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School named after V.F. Margelov, after which, a year later, he took part in the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya.

From 2015 to 2019, he commanded the 108th Guards Air Assault Kuban Cossack Regiment and the 7th Guards Air Assault Division. In 2019, he was appointed to the post of deputy commander of the 7th Guards Air Assault Division. From 2020 to 2021 – commander of the 56th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade. After this he was assigned to Ulyanovsk.