Semen Semenchenko

Semen Ihorovych Semenchenko (Ukrainian: Семен Ігорович Семенченко) is a deputy to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and the commander-founder of the volunteer territorial defence battalion "Donbas", based in Donetsk. He was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in 2014.

Semenchenko photographed on 2 June 2014 wearing a balaclava which he later removed.

Semenchenko was born as Konstantin Igorevich Grishyn (Russian: Константин Игоревич Гришин) on 6 June 1974 in Sevastopol. He is ethnically Russian. He moved to Donetsk at an early age. He has a degree in film-making. He has three sons – Hryhoriy, Mykhailo, and Artem.

According to Semenchenko, he and the other members of the Donbas Battalion gained combat experience in the Ukrainian army or Soviet Army. He said he worked in "business activities in the field of security" before the war in Donbass. Semenchenko, the founder of the Donbas Battalion, said in May 2014: "Our state needs defending, and we decided that if the army could not do it, we should do it ourselves."

On 19 August 2014, Semenchenko was wounded by shrapnel when his forces were hit by mortar fire before entering the town of Ilovaysk, 18 kilometers east of Donetsk. He underwent an emergency surgery and recovered slowly. He was later awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky by the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov. During 2014 he was always photographed while wearing a balaklava. Removing it on 1 September 2014, he stated, "I was never afraid, I was worried about my family; they are now safe and I'm not afraid."

Semenchenko made his entry into national politics prior to the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Appearing second on the party list of Samopomich, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada.

Semenchenko was the Samopomich candidate in the 27 March 2016 early mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih. With 10.92% of the vote he lost this election to Yuriy Vilkul (who won the re-election with 74.18%.