Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
The ceremony of awarding the Golden Star of the Hero of Russia to the family of army aviation pilot Colonel Vasily Kleshchenko took place on August 18 in the Tver region, at the Army Aviation Center, where the aviator served. The ceremony was attended by the deputy head of the VKS, Lieutenant General Alexander Maksimtsev, Governor of the Tver region Igor Rudenya, colleagues and veterans of army aviation.
According to the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Vasily Kleshchenko has been taking part in a special military operation since February 24. He commanded a special helicopter combat group. He acted unconventionally in flight, used unexpected combat techniques for the enemy. The circumstances of his death have been revealed. When performing a combat flight at night as the leader of the air group, Colonel Vasily Kleshchenko destroyed several units of armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In this flight, the helicopter was shot down. The pilot was killed. By presidential decree of August 6, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
As General Maksimtsev said, helicopter pilots under Kleshchenko’s command successfully carried out combat missions to destroy particularly important nationalist targets. In turn, the governor of the Tver region Igor Rudenya said that a decision was made to assign the name of the Hero of the Russian Federation Vasily Kleshchenko to school No. 5 and one of the streets of the city of Torzhok.