Stepan () is a Ukrainian striped
cat
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
who gained worldwide popularity on social media for his calm nature and jaded posture, making him Ukraine's most popular cat.
He has more than one and a half million followers on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
Instagram. Since 2019, Stepan also has an account on the
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version o ...
network.
By August 2023 Stepan had 1.3m followers on Instagram.
In 2022 Stepan's Instagram page helped raise almost 15,000
euros in humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
Biography
Stepan was born in 2008 in
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.[Saltivka
Saltivka ( uk, Салтiвка) is a large residential area located in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. It covers most of the eponymous Saltivskyi District with parts extending into the Kyivskyi District and Nemyshlyansky ...]
, Kharkiv.
In 2020, during the quarantine period imposed following the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, Anna recorded the first video of Stepan, and it received several million views. Since then, Anna has been posting new photos and taking pictures of Stepan almost every day, always coming up with new images for him.
Initially Anna posted in
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
.
According to ''
The Moscow Times
''The Moscow Times'' is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates s ...
'' YouTube channel, by July 2021, Stepan's fame had crossed the country's borders, with Stepan "capturing the heart" of the
Russian Internet.
In November 2021,
Britney Spears drew attention to Stepan in her post. The publication had more than 1.1 million likes and almost nine thousand comments. Soon after, the Italian fashion house
Valentino published an ad for one of its handbags, featuring the Stepan.
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On February 24, 2022, Anna and Stepan were surprised by the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, during which bombings destroyed parts of Kharkiv, including residential neighborhoods, causing dozens of deaths and injuries. After the invasion began, Stepan's social media accounts confirmed that both Stepan and Anna survived the bombings, finding themselves in a shelter. Stepan's photos have been accompanied by photos of the destruction caused by Russian forces, and messages calling for an end to the invasion and a return to peace. After Stepan and his family escaped to Poland, the World Influencers and Bloggers Association helped them find a safe house in France.
Following the Russian invasion the social media posts of Stepan switched to
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
.
Stepan's owner Anna told the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and looks a lot like Stepan. In November of that year, Stepan was appointed as an 'ambassador' by the
as part of their 'Save Ukrainian Culture' campaign.
In 2022 Stepan's social media pages helped raise almost 15,000
for food, medicine and other care for other Ukrainian animals who suffered in the war.
According to his Instagram account, Stepan returned to his native Kharkiv.
In August 2023, Stepan had 1.3 million followers on Instagram.
In 2024, Anna announced that Stepan had fallen ill due to stress following a Russian attack on Kharkiv on 23 January and was receiving medications. In March, Anna announced that they had relocated to Germany with her cats.