‘Tatyana made people smile whenever she spoke ... we will never forget and never forgive’
Friends mourn the family cut down and killed by Russian mortars as they tried to flee their home
TATYANA PEREBEYNOS was utterly devoted to her two children. So much so, that when violent unrest reached her home town of Donetsk in 2014, she and her husband, Sergei, relocated to Kyiv, determined to shield their son and daughter from the horrors of war.
The couple and their children, Alise and Nikita, upped sticks and moved more than 400 miles to start anew in Ukraine’s capital. They quickly settled in and, by 2018, had bought a property to renovate in Irpin, a green, suburban satellite town to the north of the capital.
The family home was to be their base for many years to come. Ms Perebeynos would amuse friends and colleagues with tales about the renovation and the disputes it caused with her husband.
She had taken a job with SE Ranking, a small IT start-up, where she was “adored” by the small team and was known for her gentle manner and as someone who always had a kind word for those who needed it. Gradually moving up the ranks, she had recently become head of accounting.
“You could always come to her with the most stupid questions about taxes, international payments, or anything else,” one colleague said. “She always patiently answered, laying all the options out on the table.”
Just two weeks ago, Ms Perebeynos had travelled with colleagues to Georgia, where they spent three days in the mountains, drinking wine, laughing and talking late into the evening. “She had a great sense of humour,” one said. “Her stories about the children or disputes with her husband during the house renovation made us all laugh.”
It was from this family home that Ms Perebeynos fled in terror last Sunday along with Alise, nine, and Nikita, 18, once again desperately seeking shelter from war. They were unable to leave earlier as Ms Perebeynos had been looking after her sick mother.
The trio, along with a male family friend, were shepherded over a bridge before being directed to cross an exposed street. It was a civilian evacuation route, they were promised, a humanitarian corridor.
But all three were cut down by Russian mortar shells and photographs of them sprawled dead on the roadside in Irpin caused revulsion around the world. Laden with backpacks carrying their treasured possessions, their clothes blood-soaked, their lives cut short in a “barbaric” attack.
The family dogs, two terriers they had faithfully carried with them, were heard whimpering, injured but alive.
A colleague from SE Ranking, Elena Karpova, tried to sum up the shock and grief that had engulfed all who had known Ms Perebeynos. “She made people smile whenever she spoke,” she said.
“Bright, witty, determined. She was like a big sister to our whole team … we will never forget and never forgive.”
Another colleague said when Ms Perebeynos was caring for her mother and her husband could not reach them, she remained strong. “In the most difficult moments … when a shell destroyed their apartment, when they had to sleep in the basement – she did not lose her fortitude and her unwavering sense of humour, keeping up the spirits of all around her,” they said.
A company tribute expressed further horror, but added: “For us, it is crucial to not let Tatyana and her kids, Alise and Nikita, become nothing but statistics.” They were victims of an unprovoked attack, it said, “which under any law is a crime against humanity”.
Artem Kozel, chief executive of Geozilla, a family locator app, worked closely with Ms Perebeynos and described her as a consummate professional. “She never said no,” he said. “She was not scared of work. She rolled up her sleeves and worked very hard.”
He last saw her at a company party last month. “We spoke about our future, Ukraine and children,” he said. “Now there is no future for her, her kids, and I am not sure how her husband will survive after all of this.”
Mr Perebeynos now faces the unthinkable prospect of travelling to Kyiv to bury his wife and two children.
SE Ranking will try to support him however it can.
“We feel completely helpless but we are trying, at least with some small things, to help him survive the horror of these days,” a company spokesman said.
“Just three days before the war, we were in Georgia, making plans for the future and now we are writing an obituary for our Tatyana and her children.”
‘I’m not sure how her husband will survive after all of this. We are trying to help him through the horror of these days’