On Wednesday, October 1, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine to four citizens, among whom are People's Deputy Andriy Parubiy, activist Hennadiy Afanasiev, writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, and schoolboy Stepan Chubenko. The latter was killed by Russian militants in 2014. UNN tells about the life of the young Ukrainian and what happened to his killers.
Details
Stepan Chubenko was born on November 11, 1997, in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region. He studied at Kramatorsk secondary school No. 12, was fond of sports: Greco-Roman wrestling and football. He supported the Donetsk football club "Shakhtar", defended the goal of the youth team "Avangard" from Kramatorsk, and dreamed of becoming a professional goalkeeper.
After the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014, he participated in rallies for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, helped the military and civilians, and removed the flag of the terrorist "DPR" from the city square.
In July 2014, he was returning home from Kyiv through Donetsk, which by that time had already been captured by separatists and Russian invaders. He was detained by militants Yuriy Moskalyov, Maksym Sukhomlynov, and Vadym Pohodin.
According to one version, the reason for the detention was a blue and yellow ribbon on Stepan's backpack, according to another - his dispute with the militants. After the detention, the terrorists beat him, and on July 27, they took him to the village of Horbachevo-Mykhailivka, where they shot him.
At the time of his death, Stepan was 16 years old. He left behind his parents and a girlfriend, whom he planned to marry in the future.
What is known about the boy's killers
The killers of the underage boy turned out to be three militants from the "Kerch" battalion - Yuriy Moskalyov, Maksym Sukhomlynov, and Vadym Pohodin. All are natives of the Donetsk region: Pohodin was the one who shot Chubenko.
The boy's body was handed over to his parents in the autumn of 2014 by order of the then head of the "DPR" militants, Oleksandr Zakharchenko (killed in 2018 - ed.). He was buried in his native Kramatorsk, and the boy's killers have been fighting against Ukraine since 2014.
Moreover, Pohodin was for some time sheltered in her apartment by the family of the famous Russian doctor Yelizaveta Glinka, better known as "Doctor Liza". She repeatedly visited the occupied Donbas, from where she illegally took children to Russia, and in December 2016, she died in a plane crash over the Black Sea. At that time, the Russian Tu-154 plane of the Russian Ministry of Defense was heading to Syria: in addition to Glinka, there were artists of the military ensemble of the Russian army on board.
Moskalyov was detained in the so-called "DPR" in 2015 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. In court, he said that he did not shoot, but "only observed the execution." Sukhomlynov was also detained.
Pohodin was detained several times, but then released. It is currently known that he is fighting as part of the Russian occupation forces against Ukraine.
Recall
Investigators completed the investigation into the murder of children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko and other civilians in the Izium district of Kharkiv region. The crime occurred in 2022: it was committed by Russian military personnel.