Victor “Vihr” Ponomarenko is a fan of the football club “Metalurg” (Donetsk).

Viktor Sergeevich Ponomarenko was born on June 01, 1998 in the city of Selydove (Donetsk region). He studied at school No. 6, Selidian gymnasium and school No. 2 of his hometown, which he graduated from. Since childhood, he was fond of boxing, had certain successes and awards in the sport. It was the sports environment: football players, boxers, rugby players - were Victor's second family, with whom he spent most of his life. He was with the same people until the last minute.

It so happened that in Donetsk most of the friends were fans of FC Metalurg, so the first outings were for this club. The family and support from the fans was amazing, inspired by the special atmosphere in and out of the stadium. With the beginning of the war in the 14th year, only a small part of the city resisted pro-Russian sentiment. The lion's share of this resistance was the fan movement. Fans joined forces and defended the future of the Motherland.

Due to the fact that in 2014 Victor was only 16 years old, he could not go to defend the state to the ranks of the Armed Forces. He did it in 2016, just after he turned 18. Having a great desire to free his native land from the invaders, he first went as a volunteer. They sent him to the city of Lisichansk, where Victor served as part of the air reconnaissance brigade. In the circle of professional military he studied quickly. One day he went to smoke a cigarette at a position at night, where he was almost hit by a sniper. It was from that moment that Victor realized that military service is a titanic work that is carried out around the clock.

In 2019, he signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. One of the first in his movement, he felt for himself what it was like to be a paratrooper. After him, most of the Selidov fans joined the 81st brigade of the DSHV. Digging trenches, lots of parachute jumps, grueling training, going on combat missions to the East hardened him and his comrades. The beginning of a full-scale war “Vihr” met on the way from the training center of sniper training. He was chosen as one of the best candidates from his team. He managed to train as a Marxman, received a certificate, but the beginning of the Great War changed plans.

Almost immediately after the beginning of the invasion, he was sent with his brothers to the area of Gulyaypol (Zaporizhzhya region), where they held the defense until the beginning of July 2022.

In early July, Victor and his brothers were transferred to the Motherland, to positions near the city. Siversk (Donetsk region). The guys were particularly impressed by the pace of hostilities and the number of artillery. Once, together with his platoon “Vihr” could not leave the shelter for more than 8 hours due to massive shelling.

Constant attacks and counterattacks exhausted the personnel, but in spite of everything Victor always went into battle. According to the brothers, without a brave fighter, there was no way to go to the task. He took part in the battles for Malinovka, Gulyaypole, Zatyshne, Chervona, Siversk, defended the airfield near Poltava. He was the commander of the detachment of the assault platoon. On April 11, 2022, he was awarded the Medal “For Military Service to Ukraine”. He also has the medal “Volunteer” for the period of hostilities in 2016-17.

Viktor Ponomarenko died on July 13, 2022 while performing a combat mission in Donetsk region. When asked for help, “Vihr” moved out of his position, leaving his boys in the field, because he was always worried about each brother. Repelling an enemy assault near m. Siversk, enemy tank hit near him. Unfortunately, the gunshot wound was fatal. Farewell to the Warrior took place in the city of Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi (Cherkasy region), where his family now lives.