Ukrainian man learns of family’s death after recognising bodies on Twitter

Tetiana Perebyinis
Facebook

A Ukrainian father realised his entire family had been killed after recognising their bodies on social media.

Serhiy Perebyinis was devastated after learning his wife and two children had died while trying to escape Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Sunday.

A picture of the family lying beside a World War II monument was shared on social media and made the front page of the New York Times.

“I recognised the luggage and that is how I knew,” Mr Perebyinis said.

Tetiana Perebyinis and her children - Mykyta, 18, and Alisa, 9 - had stayed in Irpin after the invasion of Ukraine to look after Mrs Perebyinis’ elderly mother.

Mykta and Alise Perebyinis
Facebook

However, they attempted to escape with a male family friend along with their two Yorkshire terriers at the weekend.

The dogs’ cages were pictured next to the family’s bodies.

“The whole world should know what is happening here,” Mr Perebyinis said.

In an interview with the New York Times he said that in order to return to Kyiv, he was forced to enter Russia then fly to the city of Kaliningrad to cross into Poland.

Serhiy Perebyinis
sky news

He revealed that he told Russian troops on the Polish border: “My whole family died in what you call a special operation and we call a war.

“You can do what you want with me. I have nothing left to lose.”

Mr Perebyinis met his wife in high school but they became a couple years later after meeting again in a nightclub.

Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Mariupol shelling

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen in the besieged city of Mariupol
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Married in 2001, they lived outside Kyiv, in an apartment with their two children and their dogs. Mrs Perebyinis was an accountant and he worked as a computer programmer.

Mr Perebyinis later wrote on Facebook that his ordeal was “like a horror movie”.

“This is all hard to watch when your beloved wife is lying in a black bag on the floor,” he wrote.

He vowed to get justice for his family.

“I will be fighting for them to the end. I’ll make sure there is a court verdict.” he said.

Meanwhile, in the south of Kyiv another grieving father pulled his cat from the wreckage of his home where his family was killed in another Russian air strike.

Ihor Mozhaev lost five family members, including his wife and 12-year-old daughter.

“Just leave Ukraine alone already”, he told CNN. “God help this to end as soon as possible.”

An airstrike on a hospital in the port city of Mariupol has killed three people, including a six-year-old child, the city council said on Thursday, as Russian forces intensified their siege of Ukrainian cities.

The attack a day earlier in the besieged southern port city wounded 17 people, including women waiting to give birth, doctors and children. Bombs also fell on two hospitals in another city west of the capital.

The World Health Organization said it has confirmed 18 attacks on medical facilities since the Russian invasion began two weeks ago.

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