Family conflict and threats: new details in the case of the murder of cosmonaut Kadeniuk’s son
10 December 2025 12:39
Kyiv police are investigating the death of 41-year-old Dmytro Kadenyuk, son of Leonid Kadenyuk, the first cosmonaut of independent Ukraine. The man was found on the morning of December 10 in an apartment on Lesia Ukrainka Boulevard with multiple stab wounds. The deceased was not officially identified, but RBC-Ukraine cited sources as saying that it was Dmytro Kadenyuk, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Law enforcement officers opened criminal proceedings under Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – premeditated murder.
How the body was found
According to the Kyiv police, at about 08:00 am, law enforcement officers were informed about the body of a man in a high-rise apartment. Stab wounds were found on the body.
“Today, at about 08:00, law enforcement officers received information about the discovery of the body of a 41-year-old Kyiv resident with stab wounds in an apartment in a local high-rise building,” the police said in a statement.
According to media reports, on December 10 in the morning, Dmytro’s body was found by his mother in an apartment on Lesya Ukrainka Square with numerous wounds and a knife in his hand.
According to family friends, the body was lying near the front door. The nature of the injuries may indicate a possible struggle.
Investigation and first versions
An investigative team and forensic experts are working at the scene. The police have not yet voiced any versions – the final conclusions will be given by the examination.
Speculation is already circulating on social media about a possible connection between Dmytro’s death and a long-standing housing conflict in the Kadeniuk family. This version has not yet been officially confirmed.
A long-running inheritance conflict in the family
As TSN reported, after Leonid Kadenyuk’s death in 2018, his widow and youngest son Dmytro tried to formalize the inheritance of the apartment that the cosmonaut received from the state.
the 4-room apartment is located on Lesia Ukrainka Boulevard in the Pechersk district. This is the only property left after the cosmonaut, who did not have time to draw up a will.
Kadeniuk received a four-room apartment at 21 Lesi Ukrainky Square in the capital after his 1997 space flight.
in 2005, the family sold a plot of land in Koncha Zaspa and bought a neighbor’s three-room apartment in a high-rise building, which they combined with their own. They had 215 square meters of total area. Vira and her son Dmytro lived there. The neighbors included judges and diplomats.
However, Leonid Kadeniuk’s eldest son from his first marriage, Volodymyr Kolevatov, interfered with the inheritance case and demanded a third of the housing value. At the same time, third-party claimants emerged, including a man who claimed to have a will in his favor.
Vira Kadeniuk reported that Dmytro was attacked twice, stabbed with a knife, and the family received telephone threats. But the perpetrators of the attacks were never identified.
Vira Kadeniuk told journalists that she was unable to buy the share from her eldest son, and the family planned to sue the other applicants.
It was known about Vladimir Kolevatov that he lived in Russia, had a degree in aviation weapons engineering, but taught ballroom dancing. Volodymyr’s mother, Lyudmyla Kolevatova, is from Chernihiv. The parents divorced when the son was 6 years old. Kadeniuk left him and his mother a three-room apartment. Leonid Kadeniuk lived in Kyiv. And his first family, from Chernihiv, lived in Zvezdkovyi Mistechko near Moscow.
According to Vira Kadeniuk, she has seen him twice in the last 35 years. However, over the past few years, he has been persistently trying to get a part of his father’s “inheritance.”
There have also been third-party claimants in the inheritance case with an alleged “will” in favor of third parties.
It is currently unclear whether this long history has anything to do with Dmytro’s death.
What is known about Dmytro Kadeniuk
Dmytro Kadeniuk worked at the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Previously, he was a chief specialist at the National Center for Spacecraft Control and Testing.
For a long time he was engaged in scientific activities.
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