Ukrainian Man Mourns Loss of Entire Family to Russian Shelling

On the night of the 9th of March, Russian shelling hit the building in which the Perebiynis family was living. Serhiy Perebiynis, father of two and wife to Tetiana Perebiynis, was away caring for his sick mother in eastern Ukraine when the bombs struck. Mother Tetiana, 43, decided to move herself and their two children, 18-year-old Mykyta, and 9-year-old Alisa, to their basement. However, Tetiana soon decided it was time to flee the area; with the help of a church volunteer, 26-year-old Anatoly Berezhnyi, the plan was to cross a damaged bridge in their town of Urpin. Tragically, Russian mortar shelling meant they did not make it.

Serhiy Perebyinis, husband to Tetiana Perebiynis, 43, father of Mykyta, 18, and Alisa, 9, holding their portraits after learning about their deaths. credit: New York Times

Serhiy and Tetiana met in high school and were married for more than two decades. Married in 2001, they lived in a community outside Kyiv with their two children and their dogs, Benz and Cake.

Serhiy learnt of the massacre of his family after photographs of his wife and children's bodies were published online; speaking to The New York Times, he described the moment he saw the photos on Twitter: “I recognised the luggage and that is how I knew.” Serhiy was still with his mother in Donetsk when his family were killed; he has since returned to Kyiv to bury them and organise their funeral. He recalls expressing regret that he could not protect the rest of his family, having told his wife before her death: “Forgive me that I couldn’t defend you", adding “I tried to care for one person, and it meant I cannot protect you.” Tetiana had reportedly replied, "Don't worry, I will get out."

The family had already been relocated amid the Ukrainian crisis of 2014, when they moved to Kyiv to escape an unspecified Russian separatist group uprising. They had been determined to start anew and rebuild their lives in the country's capital. When Russian tanks once again began invading Ukrainian soil eight years later, Serhiy and his family were in disbelief, and "could hardly believe it was happening again.”

For Tetiana and her two children to escape, they were forced to cross approximately a hundred yards of dangerous roads and war-torn bridges, faced with the imminent threat of a Russian attack. Serhiy attempted to track his family’s location via an app, but after seeing an “unusual geolocation” for his wife’s phone between Kyiv and Irpin, Serhiy knew something was wrong. His phone later showed that his family was at Clinical Hospital No. 7 in Kyiv. Fearing the worst, Serhiy proceeded to call his wife’s number multiple times, but received no reply. Around 30 minutes later, he came across the devastating post on Twitter. Describing his marriage to Tetiana, Serhiy stated that “they refurbished three apartments and never argued once.”

Serhiy with his wife’s bloodied coat. credit: New York Times

Tetiana Perebyinis was “a very friendly, brave, courageous woman with a great sense of humor, she always cheered everyone around her up, she was truly like a big sister to all of us," Ksenia Khirvonina, a colleague of Tetiana’s, told the San Francisco Chronicle. Khirvonina is currently residing in Dubai, having fled from Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that efforts to evacuate around 18,000 people from towns in the Kyiv region into the capital itself are ongoing. He stated that about 35,000 civilians have used humanitarian corridors to flee the fighting thus far. Zelenskyy has also spoken to members of the US Congress, resulting in President Biden's announcement of an $800 million contribution to military aid.