Volodymyr Chub

2002-2006: Early career in Luhansk Oblast

In 2002, Chub announced his candidacy for the post of deputy of the Luhansk Oblast Council, representing the city of Alchevsk. He was elected to the council that year, and served for one term until 2006.

2006-2012: Mayor of Alchevsk

In early 2006, Chub was elected Mayor of Alchevsk as an independent, although he was supported by the party faction "Eco+25%", which was affiliated with ISD. The elections were called early due to the winter disaster of 2006, in which the city's entire district heating system collapsed and was called at the time "the worst man-made disaster in the history of independent Ukraine". The three-time mayor at the time, Mykola Kyrychenko, a member of the Party of Regions, attempted to vie for re-election but only won 14.7% of the vote, even after appealing that he had tried to talk to the then president Viktor Yushchenko, although many blamed Kyrychenko for the disaster and it effectively ended his political career in favour of Chub. In an analysis in 2006, the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrrudprom stated that Chub's victory in the race mostly represented the dominance of the Industrial Union of Donbas (ISD) in the city, because both Alchevskkoks and the Alchevsk Metallurgical Complex, the city-forming enterprises, were both owned by the ISD. After becoming mayor, he signed a memorandum of cooperation with the ISD and USAID, specifically to strategically develop Alchevsk. Most of Chub's first term, though, revolved around the preceding winter crisis in 2006, with Chub focusing on improving the heating systems in the city year-round. Towards the end of his term, in April 2010, Chub joined the Party of Regions, alongside most of the employees of Alchevskkokks.

Chub was re-elected for a second term in November 2010, beating Kyrychenko again. Soon after, in January 2011, he signed a strategic plan for improving the competitiveness in central Luhansk Oblast, together with Yurii Borisov of the city of Stakhanov (since 2016, Kadiivka) and Mykola Morgunov of Bryanka, which would last theoretically until 2015. It was speculated towards the middle of his term, all the way back in May 2012, that he would run in the upcoming 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary elections due to his going to Kyiv to meet at the headquarters of the Party of Regions. There, he was part of the interviewees for potential deputies in constituency No. 110. In accordance with his election, Chub resigned from the post of mayor on 22 November 2012, since dual mandates are forbidden.

2012-2014: Verkhovna Rada

True to the speculation, in June 2012 Chub announced his candidacy in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary elections for constituency No. 110, with him representing the Party of Regions. At the time of its formation in 2012, constituency no. 110 consisted of the cities of Alchevsk and Antratsyt, along some areas of the Antratsyt Raion and Lutuhyne Raion.During the election campaigns, leaflets were distributed by unknown persons, in which Chub allegedly congratulated the veterans of Alchevsk on the anniversary of the creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). The race in the 110th was also accused of not having equal opportunities, according to the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) candidate, Oleksandr Bebeshko. Chub eventually won the constituency with 48.08% (44,126 people) of the vote, with the self-nominated candidate Oleksandr Zhuchenko placing second at 19.28% and third place going to the CPU candidate Bebeshko at 15.89%.

Upon joining the Rada, Chub joined the faction of the Party of Regions and was appointed Chairman of the Subcommittee on State Monitoring of the Environment. In October 2013, he voted for all European integration laws, one of five Luhansk Oblast deputies to do so. However, with the expansion of Euromaidan protests in December 2013 after Viktor Yanukovych refused to pass the association agreement with the EU, Chub accused "the opposition" of politicising the European issue. He also said that police in Kyiv were acting tolerantly and were not using special forces despite "provocations", and that the opposition were trying to plunge Ukraine into a "civil war". Thus, he refused to vote for the resolution that condemned the subsequent bloodshed by the police (the Heavenly Hundred) in Kyiv in January 2014. In June 2014, he left the Party of Regions and joined the "For Peace and Stability" faction in parliament, which was widely described as pro-Russian. Thus, towards the end of his mandate, in September 2014, Oleksandr Turchynov said that Chub was supporting Russian aggression and separatism during the War in the Donbas by joining the group. He did not run for re-election in the snap 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary elections.