A Ukrainian man revealed that he learned about the deaths of his wife and children near Kyiv after recognizing widely circulated images on Twitter. Serhii Perebynis told The New York Times, "I recognized the belongings and then realized what had happened." The newspaper reported that Perebynis was helping his sick mother in eastern Ukraine when his wife decided to flee their home in Irpin, near Kyiv, with their two children last week after their apartment was hit by Russian shelling.
"I told her, forgive me for not being able to protect you," Perebynis recalled telling his wife the night before her death. He added, "I tried to take care of one person, which means I cannot protect you. She said: Don't worry, I'll get out." Anatolii Pereznyn was helping the family escape on Sunday, but the group was just 12 yards from where a mortar shell landed.
The shrapnel killed the family. Hours after their deaths, the photo circulated on social media, and Perebynis confirmed the deaths of his wife, Tetiana Perebynis, 43, and their children Mykyta, 18, and Alyssa, 9, based on the identification of their belongings.
He emphasized the importance of capturing a photograph of his family's death. "The whole world must know what is happening here," he stated. The photo was taken by Lynsey Addario, a New York Times photographer, who witnessed a series of mortar shells fall before the family was killed.
Addario recounted the story of the photo to CBS News, saying, "I moved and found a place behind a wall and started shooting. In fact, within minutes, a series of mortars started landing closer and closer to our location until one landed about 30 feet from where I was standing, killing the mother and her two children."
