Stepan Chubenko

Chubenko studied at the Kramatorskoy Secondary School Number 12, and was fond of sports. At first he was engaged in the Greco-Roman wrestling, then he was fond of football, and defended the gates of the youth team "Avangard" from Kramatorsk, and Donetsk, visited his matches in Donetsk, and traveled with the team to other cities of Ukraine. With friends, he organized a team of KVN, which traveled to perform in different cities of Ukraine. Also, with friends, Stepan took care of a children's home in Kramatorsk. They often visited children, brought them toys, clothes, books, and delicacies. Stepan said to his girlfriend that when they marry, they will have one child and adopt two more.

With the onset of pro-Russian forces in Ukraine in 2014, Stepan and his friends took part in rallies in support of the integrity of Ukraine, held in Kramatorsk. The boys brought water, products, and hygiene products for the Ukrainian soldiers who arrived in the city. During the bombing, he helped go downstairs to the elderly, carrying water to them when the city's water supply was cut off. Risking his life, Stepan took out the flag of the DPR from the city square.

In April 2014, when Russian militants seized the city, their mother drove Stepan to her parents in Russia, but a month later he returned, declaring that he did not want to hide "like a rat" in times difficult for the country.

In June 2014, Stepan went to a friend in Kyiv. On June 23, he took a train in the capital to return home. He traveled through Donetsk where he was detained by militants from the Kerch battalion, according to reports, for a yellow-blue ribbon on a backpack, and according to Igor Stokoz, a representative of the Donetsk regional military-civilian administration, because he had entered into a dispute with defending the position of a single indivisible country.[3][4] The bandits began to beat the juvenile boy in Donetsk. Then he was taken to Horbachevo-Mykhailivka, where after terrible torture, he was shot.

Immediately after the disappearance of his son, his mother traveled to Donetsk on his wanted list. She was able to find out that the boy was shot and talked with the leader of the republic Alexander Zakharchenko, who said he'd find the body of her son and his killers. At the end of September 2014, the mother came to the news that the body was found. Exhumation happened on October 3, during which, the mother recognized her son. She succeeded in getting him sent to Kramatorsk. On November 8, 2014, Stepan Chubenko was buried in his home town.

The killers were three militants from the Kerch battalion - 1969, 1971 and 1984 years of birth. Two of them - residents of Donetsk, one - from Makeevka. The DPR reported that one of the killers of her son was caught, but that they let the other two flee to Crimea.[5]

In honor of Stepan Chubenko, a football tournament was held in Kramatorsk twice, in 2015 and 2016.[6]

On May 8, 2016 the Order of "National Hero of Ukraine" were posthumously given to his parents, Viktor (father), and Stalina (mother).[7][8]