Oleksii Shcherban’s life was taken by the Russian army in Mariupol on March 5, 2022. He was killed by shrapnel during shelling on Yednosti Street in the Livoberezhnyi District. A month earlier, Oleksii had turned 37.
“We were walking down the street: Oleksii, me, and my husband — his father. Then something exploded. Oleksii fell immediately. That was it. Instant death. My husband and I were badly wounded. We were in shock and didn’t know what to do. We took our son’s documents. My husband tore a curtain from a window, we covered him with it and limped home. There, neighbors bandaged our shattered legs and arms,” recalled the victim’s mother, Natalia.
She was unable to walk. Oleksii’s father went to relatives. Together with their daughter and son-in-law, they brought the body back to the house. Neighbors helped bury Oleksii under the windows.
Oleksii Shcherban was born and raised in Mariupol. From childhood, he was interested in electronics. He graduated from the Kharkiv Institute of Radio Electronics and worked as an electrician. He loved traveling. Ten days before the full-scale invasion, he returned from Egypt together with his family.
“Our son had been passionate about electronics since childhood. He was a very good person. We miss him very much,” Natalia added.
In the summer of 2022, Oleksii Shcherban was reburied at the Stary Krym Cemetery in Mariupol.
At 9:00 a.m. — a nationwide moment of silence. The Donetsk Regional Military Administration and the Memorial platform “Killed by Russia” commemorate the residents of Donetsk Region killed by Russians.