A Silicon Valley employee and her children are the subject of photographs so devastating that they shocked the world: a dead Ukrainian family lying on the sidewalk, killed by Russian mortar fire while trying to flee the conflict.
Photos of Ukrainian soldiers tending to the bloody bodies of a woman, her teenage son and young daughter, and their friend appeared on the front page of the New York Times this week, along with online video of an unprovoked attack on civilians. They provoked international outrage and the promise of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to punish those responsible. “There will be no quiet place on earth for you,” Zelensky said. “Except for the grave.”
Palo Alto startup SE Ranking confirmed on Wednesday that the photo shows its chief accountant, Tatiana Perebeinis, 43, and her daughter Alisa, 9, and son Nikita, 18, who were killed by Russian forces while trying to flee the town of Irpin. suburb about 15 minutes from Kyiv. They had just rushed across the partially destroyed bridge across the Irpin River to Kyiv when the mortar exploded.
“For me, as for her colleague, seeing these photographs is a tragedy,” Ksenia Khirvonina, a spokeswoman for the company, told Chronicle. “They show it’s real. On the other hand, they prove that the Russian army and Putin himself are monsters who deserve no mercy for their actions.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin insists that his troops are not pursuing civilians trying to flee.
Perebeynis “was a very friendly, courageous, courageous woman with a wonderful sense of humor, she always cheered up everyone around, she was really like an older sister for all of us,” said Hirvonina. She spoke from Dubai, where she fled on February 23 from Ukraine, where about half of the company’s 110 employees are based.
“She always had answers to all of our questions, even the dumb ones, about personal finance or taxes or how to upgrade your Visa card; she had answers for everything, ”said Hirvonina. “We are so shocked, saddened, devastated, angry. There are no words to describe our emotions, we are so heartbroken.”
Tatyana Perebeynis, chief accountant of SE Ranking, was killed along with two children in a Russian mortar attack in Irpen, Ukraine.
Provided by SE rating
When the Russian invasion began, Perebeinis first stayed in Irpen, where she and her family lived, because her mother was ill and her son, at 18, was in the age group of men who were not allowed to leave the country if necessary. to defend Ukraine,” said Hirvonina. According to Hirvonina, Perebeinis did not want to leave her son. This year he just entered the university.
“She always talked about him, how smart he is,” said Hirvonina. “She was a wonderful mother; She gave her children everything she could.
But after the encirclement of Irpen, a bomb hit the family’s house, right above their apartment.
“They couldn’t stay in their apartment anymore; they spent all the time in the basement, where it was cold, without food, light, heat, anything, ”said Hirvonina.
Perebeinis decided to use the promised “safe passage” that Russia had agreed to, so that civilians could escape.
“But then Russian troops started shooting at innocent civilians, and that’s how they were killed,” Khirvonina said. She doesn’t know where the family went.
Sergei Perebeinis, Tatiana’s husband, who was not with them when they tried to escape, shared photos of his wife and children on his Facebook page.
The Russians “took them all,” he wrote on Facebook.
On Wednesday, Hirvonina reported that SE Ranking helped Sergei Perebeinis to come to Kyiv, where he organized the funeral of his wife and children.
According to Khirvonina, Perebeinis was hired in 2016 as an accountant in the Kyiv office of SE Ranking and worked her way up to the head of a department, which corresponds to the position of financial director. The company, which develops tools for search engine optimization, was founded in 2013 by people from Belarus. CEO Valery Kurilov, who is one of the founders, lives in Ukraine, Hirvonina said.
Many US tech companies have a presence in Ukraine, known for its strong education system with an emphasis on technology skills.
According to Khirvonina, Perebeinis previously lived in Donetsk, a part of Ukraine adjacent to the border with Russia and occupied by its larger neighbor in 2014. Then she and her family moved to Irpen.
“We are devastated to announce that yesterday our dear colleague and friend Tatyana Perebeinis, chief accountant of SE Ranking, was killed along with two children by Russian mortar artillery,” the company wrote on Facebook on Monday.
Tatiana Perebeinis of Palo Alto SE Ranking is pictured to the right of this group pose of the company’s employees. Perebeinis was killed by a mortar attack in Ukraine earlier this week.
Provided by SE rating
“There are no words to describe our grief or heal our pain,” SE Ranking wrote in a post about Perebanis. “But it is very important for us that Tanya and her children Alice and Nikita do not remain just statistics. Her family was the victim of unprovoked shelling of civilians, which, by any law, is a crime against humanity.”
Hirvonina shared pre-war memories of a colleague. SE Ranking held a corporate meeting in Georgia over the weekend before Russia launched its invasion.
“Once we went there to the mountains; they have these great high mountains,” she said. “One lady suggested paragliding. Tatiana was the person who insisted that we do it. I said: well, if Tatyana does it, I must do it. I will never forget and it will be a fond memory of her. She was brave, free, enjoying life.”
According to Hirvonina, the day before the invasion, Perebeinis brought 9-year-old Alice to work, and a colleague brought a daughter of the same age. Although she had just arrived in Dubai, she communicated with the girls and the Kiev staff via video link.
“The girls were playing a game called Jenga with wooden sticks to pull out,” she said. “Besides, they braided each other’s hair and asked everyone to help them.”
The photograph of the deceased family was replete with heartbreaking details, including their wheeled suitcases, children’s backpacks and a green dog carrier. “A dog barking is heard,” wrote a New York Times reporter who witnessed the attack.
Sergey Perebeinis wrote on Facebook that at least one of the dogs, a Yorkshire terrier, survived, although her leg was amputated.
“Hoping for his strength,” he wrote. “He’s a tough guy. Thanks to everyone who cares. Thanks to the journalist who showed humanity.”
Caroline Said is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] @csaid