Sergey Dolzhenko was born in 1964 in Kharkiv in the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Since 1990 he has been working as a photojournalist and photo editor for different Ukrainian newspapers and magazines, and served as a stringer for AP and later for epa. In 2003 Sergey was appointed epa Chief Photographer Ukraine.

He has covered such events as the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003, the Beslan school hostage in Russia in 2004, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine 2004-2005, the EURO 2008, and the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2010 among others.