Colonel Vladimir Zhitarenko (Владимир Житаренко; June 15, 1942 – January 1, 1995) was a military correspondent for the Russian armed forces daily Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star). Zhitarenko had covered post-Soviet conflicts in Afghanistan, Abkhazia, Chechnya, South Ossetia, Tajikistan and the Transdnester, as well as the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.