Roman Kondratenko was born in Tiflis, (now the capital of Georgia) as the tenth child to a retired Army major of Ukrainian origin.

[1] After Kondratenko's arrival at Port Arthur in 1903, he reorganized and improved on its already massive fortifications over a period of several months, anticipating the coming conflict with the Empire of Japan.

After the start of the Siege of Port Arthur, he was the soul of the Russian defenses, personally directing efforts of the defending troops in the most difficult and dangerous areas, and overseeing repairs of the fortifications due to battle damage.

[1] However, on December 2, 1904, he was mortally wounded when the armory of the fort he was defending took a direct hit from Japanese howitzer fire.

[1] Only eighteen days after his death, generals Stoessel and Alexander Fok surrendered Port Arthur to the Japanese.