A photo of a family killed after a Russian mortar attack near Irpin, on the outskirts of Kiev, made the horror of the conflict explicit to the country’s civilian population and made newspaper covers around the world.
The father, engineer Serguei Perebinis, published a tribute to the family on his Facebook profile. At the time of the attack, he was not with his wife, Tatiana Perebinis, and their children, who were accompanied by a friend.
“They took them all. Tania [apelido de Tatiana] did not resist. Why is this happening to me? And now? I’m on my way, alive. I need to see you one last time. Forgive me, I didn’t protect them,” he wrote in the message, posted alongside old photos of Tatiana, 43, Nikita, 18, and Alise, 9.
The technology and marketing company Tatiana worked for, SE Ranking, also published a tribute.
“We are devastated to say that our dear colleague and friend Tatiana Perebinis, SE Ranking’s chief accountant, was killed with her children by Russian mortars,” the statement reads. “Her family became victims of unprovoked attacks on civilians. Our hearts are broken.”
The moment of the attack was filmed. The family was hit on a street next to a bridge that had been destroyed by the Ukrainian army to delay the Russian advance amid the war in Ukraine.
In Facebook groups, Serguei also talked about his dogs, who accompanied the family and appeared to be alive in videos posted on social networks.
“Friends, my children died today in Romanovka, near Irpin. Next to their bodies were two dog transport crates and, judging by the videos, they appear to be alive. Someone may have saved them. If anyone has seen or know more information, write,” he said.
“I will fight for all my family members. I hope for a miracle.”
After the messages, the older of the two animals was found in a clinic, with one leg amputated. In a subsequent publication, however, Serguei said that he could not resist his injuries and died. “I was hopeful that at least someone would survive,” he wrote. So far, no information about the other dog has been released.
Last week, he had published photos of the destruction caused by the Russian invasion of Irpin, a place he called his “new home”. “Russian occupiers destroy the city using aircraft. They destroy houses, people are dying. How many civilians still need to die for you to wake up?” Sergei wrote.
With just over 60,000 inhabitants, Irpin is located on the outskirts of Kiev, an area that has been attacked by Russian troops as part of the strategy for the capture of the Ukrainian capital. The city is an important route to Kiev.
Sergei says he was born in Donetsk and left in 2014. The year marked the beginning of the civil war between the government and separatist rebels in the region, which lies east of Ukraine and borders Russia.
Along with Lugansk, Donetsk declared itself independent and was recognized as such by Vladimir Putin days before the invasion. Defending the two rebel territories was one of the Russian leader’s arguments for the invasion, which he calls to this day a “special military operation”.
