A husband discovered his wife and two children had been killed escaping Kyiv from a post on Twitter, he has tragically revealed.
Tatiana Perebeinis, 43, and her children Mykyta, 18, and Alisa, 9, were killed in Russian mortar bombing as they attempted to cross a damaged bridge out of Irpin, near the capital.
A photograph of them strewn across a pavement, with family friend Anatoly Berezhnyi, 26, who was helping them to safety, was shared widely on social media.
Among those to see it was Serhiy Perebyinis, 43, who was in eastern Ukraine with his mother when his family was murdered.
Tragically, he revealed he recognised their distinctive luggage in a photo shared on Twitter.
He said to the New York Times: “I told her, ‘Forgive me that I couldn’t defend you. I tried to care for one person, and it meant I cannot protect you’.
“I recognised the luggage and that is how I knew.
“The whole world should know what is happening here.”
IT worker Tatiana had stayed in Irpin to care for her mother who has Alzheimer’s but decided to leave when their building was shelled as they hid in the basement.
A first attempt to flee was prevented by a Russian tank rolling by before she and her family drove away in a minivan.
They had to stop as a bridge out of the town had been destroyed so got out and ran, when they were killed by shrapnel from a nearby explosion.
Before attempting an escape Tatiana had promised her husband “I will get out.”
Mr Perebyinis had been tracking their progress via an app on his phone.
He first realised something was amiss when his wife’s phone showed it was in a hospital and she stopped picking up his calls.
The shocking photographs of the dead family was taken by New York Times photographer Lynsey Addario, who was nearly hit by the bombing.
She said of the pictures: “I went forward and found a place sort of behind a wall and started photographing.
“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.
“I think it’s really important that people around the world see these images, it’s a difficult image, but it is a historically important image.”
