CNN host Erin Burnett broke down in tears during an interview with a Ukrainian father who learned his family had been killed in the Russian conflict.
CNN host Erin Burnett wept during a heartbreaking interview with a Ukrainian father who learned his family was killed during the ongoing Russian Ukraine invasion.
Serhiy Perebyinis shared his story on Burnett’s show Erin Burnett BeforeAvailable to stream on Flash.
The father-of-two discovered his wife Tatiana, 43, his 18-year-old son, Mykyta and his nine-year-old daughter, Alisa, who died on Twitter. They were killed during a Russian bombardment on a bridge in Irpin.
The family who did not flee the area earlier because Tatiana was taking care of her sick mother.
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Burnett shared his condolences for the grieving husband and then asked if the grieving father had buried his family. Perebyinis said he had.
The TV host then asked Perebyinis about the last conversation he had with his wife before she died.
“It was the day when already there was no water, electricity, gas, and we discussed – I spoke to him at 10 p.m., even if, at that time there was no connectivity either. But I managed to get through and had a discussion about the potential evacuation,” he told the presenter.
Perebyinis describes to Burnett the moments leading up to his death.
“At the last moment however, the convoy she planned to travel with was shelled out and fired upon. And then she came walking from the bridge, trying to make an escape on foot.”
Photos of the family were featured on the homepage of the New York Times.
Remembering his wife of 23 years, Perebyinis says his wife was “a very cheerful person”.
“She was the chief financial officer of a large American company,” he added.
“We spent a lot of time together as a family. We liked bicycles, in winter we went skiing, and she was very fond of planting flowers in her dacha, her country house.
The TV personality asked Perebyinis about his children. That’s when she took a long break and burst into tears.
“Serhiy, as a parent, no one in the world can imagine your unbearable loss, especially the loss of your children. “Could you tell me about them?” she said in tears.
“We used to see each other and my wife on Google Maps, and that morning I noticed there was an unusual geolocation between Kyiv and their ping, then 20 minutes later her phone went moved to another location, to a hospital in Kyiv and I suspected something was wrong,” Perebyinis said.
“And I asked friends to come to the hospital and find out if there was any bad news, and Twitter, there was news on Twitter…there was mortar shelling and that a family is dead: two children, their mother and their father.
“And then I saw a photo on Twitter and I recognized my children. I recognized their things and their clothes.
“And I called my friends to say, ‘The kids are dead. Their bodies are lying on the sidewalk, and I asked them, ‘Please could you help me find my wife. »
Speaking of her children, Perebiynis says “they were normal, happy children. »
“My son was older. He was 18 and in his second year of college. He wanted to become an IT professional. the programming has started,” he said.
“And my daughter was nine years old and she loved dancing, painting. She studied English. They were normal, happy kids,”
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 103 children have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.
