Stepan V. Chubenko

Born on November 11, 1997, in the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region. From 2004, he studied at secondary school No. 12 in Kramatorsk. $He was passionate about sports. Initially, he practiced Greco-Roman wrestling, then became interested in football. He was the goalkeeper for the youth football team "Avangard" in Kramatorsk. He played for the local team of the Club of the Funny and Inventive. $With the onset of pro-Russian protests in Ukraine in 2014, Stepan Chubenko, along with friends, participated in rallies supporting the integrity of Ukraine, which were held in Kramatorsk. The guys brought water, food, and hygiene products to the Ukrainian military who arrived in the city. During shelling, Stepan Chubenko helped elderly people descend into the shelter, bringing them water when the city was cut off from water supply. Risking his life, the young man took down the flag of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" from the city square. $When in April 2014 Russian militants seized the city of Kramatorsk, Stepan Chubenko's mother took him to her parents in Russia, but on May 27, he returned, stating that he did not want to hide "like a rat" in difficult times for Ukraine. $In early July 2014, Stepan Chubenko went to a friend's place in Kyiv. On July 23, 2014, the young man took a train in Kyiv to return home. He traveled through the city of Donetsk. At the railway station in Donetsk, he was detained by bandits from the "Kerch" battalion, allegedly for the yellow-blue ribbon on his backpack and the scarf of the football club "Karpaty," or for arguing with them against the disintegration of the country and the formation of autonomous republics. $The underage boy was taken to the urban-type settlement of Horbachevo-Mikhailivka in the Mosypyn city council of Donetsk region, where he was brutally tortured and beaten for several days with his hands and feet bound. The militants offered him to switch to their side, but they could not break him. On July 27, 2014, Stepan Chubenko was shot by terrorists. $Immediately after their son's disappearance, his parents went to Donetsk to search for him. They managed to find out that the boy had been shot and spoke with the leader of the DPR militants, Alexander Zakharchenko, who promised to find their son's body and his killers. At the end of September 2014, the parents received news that their son's body had been found. The exhumation was scheduled for October 3, 2014, during which the mother recognized her son. She managed to arrange for his transfer to Kramatorsk. $On November 8, 2014, he was buried in the city cemetery of Kramatorsk.