In 1959 he graduated with honors from the Odessa State Art College. Grekov (South Russian Academy of Arts). Freelance student at the Leningrad Academy of Fine Arts (1959).

Victor’s father was the head of the fire department of Odessa and the head of the security of the city’s seaport. At his insistence his son graduated from the Children’s Academic Art School, the Academy and became a professional artist. In the USSR, an artist was a profession.

Victor Osetenko 26 years (official post 1973−1999, but in fact since the early 60s) was the chief artist of Odessa: speaking in modern terms — visualizer, designer of the city, Odessa Columbus of Ukrainian design. His paintings were purchased by the Ministry of Culture for museums of the Soviet Union. Victor Osetenko was awarded the state Repin Prize for the best portrait. He was represented in the permanent exposition of the Kiev State Museum "Pharaoh Hall", which exhibited paintings of only the best national artists of the USSR.

Victor Osetenko had a special pass-certificate to the strategic objects of the cities — Odessa and Ilyichevsk sea ports. From here came a series of historical paintings depicting seagoing ships, builders and port workers. The Black Sea Shipping Company was the largest fleet both in the USSR and in the world. Thus Osetenko’s works acquire a special value, being a chronicle of the port life of those times. These paintings were presented at exhibitions of national economic achievements in Moscow and Kiev. Central Television from Moscow shot a documentary about the artist and produced a TV program.

Victor Osetenko was lucky — he was personally acquainted with the first cosmonaut on Earth, Yuri Gagarin. Victor Osetenko’s brother was a friend of Gagarin and was in Nikita Khrushchev's personal guard (head of the USSR)— they studied together in the cosmonaut squad (under this impression, Victor named his son Yuri).

A big milestone in his work was a series of paintings devoted to cosmonautics. The Black Sea Fleet had research ships that tracked satellites, ships and space in the world’s oceans — until now, no other state in the world has built anything like this. With the collapse of the USSR, the ships were sold for scrap. Thus, Victor Osetenko was a chronicler of the development of cosmonautics and the fleet in the USSR — his paintings are not only works of art, but also historical artifacts!

Victor Osetenko did not use the Internet or a cell phone, but only accepted insights from the Divine Providence, relying on his large library and collection of albums of world artists (banned esoteric literature). After the collapse of the USSR he graduated from the Institute of "Human Development" and was involved in Western, Eastern philosophy, spiritual practices (communicated with Roerich’s son and has his autograph on the album, painting in the Roerich museums and religious dioceses in Ukraine and the world).

Victor painted until the last day of his life. He chopped and knocked down sub-frames himself. Primed his own hands and stretched the canvas. He walked (he never had a car), drew subjects from real life with his own eyes, spent days and months staring at the chosen object, professionally "went to the Image" in the finished painting. He prepared for each picture thoroughly, relying on facts from literature and academic education. He finished according to the canon, and even composed a still life in accordance and symbolism of fruits, objects and colors.

Victor Osetenko held the position of Chief Artist of the city with a large salary, and he did not have to live off the sale of his paintings. Only paintings were sold as official state purchases by the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union for the country’s museums (one must keep in mind the Stalinist "fear in blood": under the Communist regime, selling paintings as additional earnings in Soviet times correlated to the criminal article on unearned income). A second serious motivator for the artist not to sell his paintings was the conviction that all his work should be before his eyes: as from painting to painting he rose higher and higher in his creative perfection.