Career
He was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 4th round (98th overall) of the 2002 National Hockey League Entry Draft. On 7 September 2011, Tkachenko was killed in the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air disaster, when a Yakovlev Yak-42 passenger aircraft carrying nearly his entire Lokomotiv team crashed just outside Yaroslavl, Russia. The team was traveling to Minsk to play their opening game of the season, with its coaching staff and prospects.
Lokomotiv officials said, "Everyone from the main roster was on the plane plus four players from the youth team"
Three weeks after Tkachenko"s death information appeared in the Internet that during the last four years of his life he had anonymously donated almost 10 million rubles (over 300,000 United States dollars) for the treatment of children suffering from serious diseases.
He transferred 500 000 rubles of this amount on the day before his death.