In 1978 Kikhtenko graduated from the Frunze College of General Command (Omsk).

In 1991 he graduated the faculty of intelligence of the M. V. Frunze Military Academy (Moscow).

After fall of the Soviet Union, Kikhtenko continued to serve the Armed Forces of Ukraine and was a chief of the Internal Troops administration in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

After election of Viktor Yanukovych as President of Ukraine in 2010, Kikhtenko was fired and retired from military service.

On 10 October 2014, newly elected President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko appointed Kikhtenko as a governor of Donetsk Oblast.