[1] Yashchenko was noticed by coach Boris Kopeikin during his military service and recommended to CSKA Moscow where he spent the 1981 season in the shadow of Aleksandr Tarkhanov, playing only a couple of matches.
He played a total of 14 seasons with Shakhtar and won, after the collapse of the USSR, the 1995 Ukrainian Cup.
[1] Yashchenko played couple of friendly matches for the Soviet Olympic football team in 1986 against Czechoslovakia and Sweden.
He left Zaporizhzhya in April 2007 and took up a position as reserve team coach at FC Metalurh Donetsk.
Following the resignation of Jos Daerden as Metalurh head coach in early December 2007, Yashchenko assumed caretaker manager duties at the club before becoming the permanent manager two weeks later.