Dad pleads ‘forgive me, I didn’t cover you’ after his wife, children & dogs were all wiped out in Russian shelling
A DAD pleaded "forgive me" as his wife, two children and dog who were killed by Russian shelling as they desperately fled Vladimir Putin's invasion.
Sergii Perebeinis, from Irpin, emotionally paid tribute as he shared pictures of his wife Tatiana, 43, son Nikita, 18, and little girl Alise, nine.
The are family are the people who were horrifically pictured lying dead on a roadside in the besieged city of Irpin - some 15 miles from Kyiv.
They were hit by Russian shelling as they fled along an evacuation corridor with their belongings and a green pet carrier containing their two dogs.
And in some of the most horrific images of the war so far, they were seen being tended to by Ukrainian soldiers surrounded by their hastily packed suitcases.
The heartbreaking images were shared around the world as they dominated the headlines.
Sergeii paid tribute to his family on Facebook, lamenting simply that the Russians "took them all" - but he also pleaded "forgive me".
He wasn't with them when they died - as he was away tending to his ailing mother in rebel-held Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
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Sergeii revealed he had spoken to his wife the night before they were killed, apologising for the fact he was not with them.
She told him: "Don't worry, I will get out."
The family had been hunkering down in their basement as the shells began to fall on Irpin - with teenage boy Nikita taking it upon himself to keep watch at night.
As the family went to flee, they found tanks rolling into their street outside - forcing them to go back into shelter.
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And when they did finally leave in their minivan, they found the roads blocked and they had to abandoned the vehicle and walk.
It was then the shells hit and killed them.
Horrific photos showed their belongings strewn around their bodies as desperate Ukrainian soldiers tried to help them.
Sergeii had been tracking his family's progress through an app on his phone - but it went dead.
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He then tried to call, but no answer.
Finally he got a ping from the app - and his family were at Clinical Hospital No. 7 in Kyiv.
And around 30 minutes later he saw a photo of the scene, immediately recognising the luggage.
"The whole world should know what is happening here," the heartbroken dad told the .
He described his wife as someone with a "light" spirit who cheering up a room when she entered, saying the "never argued once".
It comes as:
- The CIA has warned a "desperate" Vladimir Putin could deploy mini-nukes to try and turn the invasion around
- Russian troops are stuck outside Kyiv and at risk of freezing to death as temperatures plunge to -20C
- Boxer Wladimir Klitschko says he's in the "biggest fight of my life" against Vladimir Putin's army
- Thousands of Ukrainian refugees could come to Britain as a new route to open 'in days'
- Russian planes entering Britain's air space could be seized under a new law announced by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps
- A serving Queen's Guard, 19, has gone AWOL to fight in Ukraine
- A little girl filmed singing 'Let It Go' in a Ukrainian bomb shelter has safely fled to Poland
To return home, Sergeii had to pass through Russian-controlled checkpoints and he confronted the soldiers.
"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," he told them.
The computer programme met her at a high school, but they didn't get together until they met again at a nigh club.
Paying tribute to them on Facebook, Sergeii said: "Tania couldn't make it. What is this all for? What's next?"
"I'm on my way, I must see you one last time. Forgive me, I didn't cover you."
He also later confirmed both dogs had also been killed in the shelling after attempting to find the missing pooches using Facebook.
The dad pleaded with users to help, saying the pups had been in a distinctive green pet carrier - just as seen in the awful images.
The dad discovered one of the dogs had been badly hurt and had been taken to a vet - being left with an amputated back leg.
"My good friend flew to them now. I found him, he was waiting for me," Sergei said.
"Eleven years of emotions you gave us, there was hope that at least someone would stay."
And another pal of the family shared the post saying, Tatiana had an "incredible soul" and she wished "eternal memory to [her] and her children";.
Sergeii also shared a tribute to Tatiana posted by the tech company where she worked, SE Ranking.
And one of her colleagues, Anastasia Avetysian, said they had been in contact with Tatiana - who had remained in good spirts.
She joked she would have to be rescued like in the movie "Saving Private Ryan" - even as she hid in her basement.
"There are no words to describe our grief or to mend our pain. But for us, it is crucial to not let Tania and her kids Alise and Nikita remain just statistics," the firm said in a statement.
"Her family became the victim of the unprovoked fire on civilians, which under any law is a crime against humanity.
"The Russian army are criminals, and they should be stopped.
"Our hearts are broken. Our prayers are for all Ukrainians, who are fighting for their right to exist."
Ukrainian businessman Mikita Mikado also paid tribute to Tatiana and her kids.
"We were connected by the fact that I am an investor in this startup," he said.
"Unfortunately, her family could not leave Irpin earlier because of her sick mother.
"Tatiana and her children can no longer be returned. But you can also prevent the death of other people."
The United Nations estimates Putin's twisted war has already left more than one million people fleeing with Ukraine.
And this figure is expected to rise to seven million before the conflict is over - some 15 per cent of the entire 44million population of Ukraine.
Russia is peppering entire cities with shells, rockets, missiles and air strikes - seemingly indiscriminately bombing civilians.
It took less than two weeks for the ruthless Russian regime to be accused of war crimes.
Putin denies that Russia has been bombing civilians.
Thousands of families - just like the Perebeinis' - have seen their lives torn apart, going from a normal existence just weeks ago to now losing everything - in some cases their lives.
And few images illustrated this more harrowingly than the pictures from Irpin.
Photographer and journalist Andriy Dubchak, who captured the moment the shell hit on video, confirmed the victims on Facebook.
He said: "[The family] themselves are from Donetsk. Escaped the war back in 2014.
";Thought Irpin was a safe place. But the Russian army found them here too."
Lynsey Addario, the photojournalist who took the pictures, decried the killing of the family as a "war crime".
The veteran war correspondent told amount the moment the bombardment struck.
"Within minutes, a series of mortars fell increasingly closer and closer to our position until one landed about 30 feet from where I was standing and it killed a mother and her two children," she said.
"I'm a mother, and I when I'm working, I try to stay very focused. I try to keep, sort of, the camera to my eye.
"But of course, it was very emotional. First of all, I had just been sprayed with gravel from a mortar round that could have killed us very easily.
"So I was shaken up, and when we were told that we could run across the street by our security adviser, I ran and I saw this family splayed out and I saw these little moon boots and puffy coat."
And today it was warned by UK defence secretary Ben Wallace that an increasingly frustrated Russia is likely to "double down" on its brutal campaign.
"It is getting more desperate, which is why we see huge amounts of indiscriminate shelling," he said.
Russia's invasion has stalled as Putin is thought to have believed he could have rolled over the country in 48 hours.
His soldiers expected to be welcomed with flowers as liberators, but instead they were met with molotov cocktails and AK-47s.
Moscow is believed to have suffered staggering losses - with as many as 12,000 troops killed and thousands of vehicles destroyed.
Pictures show Ukraine is now littered with the burnt out remains of Russian military convoys as they come under attack from all sides.
Western nations have also imposed biting new sanctions on Russia, pushing mad tyrant Putin's regime towards total economic collapse.
Despite this however - the advance is grinding forward at a slow pace towards the capital Kyiv.
Kyiv is believed to be Putin's main objective, where they will kill President Zelenskyy and install a puppet government which would be pro-Russia.
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Peace talks continue - but the Kremlin has issued a list demands that Zelenskyy will never be able to accept.
The war continues on, soon entering its third week, and the only thing guaranteed is more death and destruction.
