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

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.

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.

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.

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.