Ukraine’s President Volodimir Zelensky is furious after a young family was killed yesterday while trying to flee their hometown in northern Ukraine. A poignant photo of the bodies, published today on the front page of the New York Times, goes all over the world. “We will not forgive. We will not forget,” Zelenski said in a video speech.
“Ukrainian soldiers help a family hit by Russian mortar bombs in the village of Irpin, but were unable to do much,” reads the shocking photo, which can be seen at the bottom of this article. It concerns a couple and their two children who tried to get themselves to safety. They lie motionless on the floor, covered with sheets and next to them suitcases standing upright.
Soldiers try to help the family members, but the mother and her children are killed instantly. The father still has a pulse and is taken away seriously injured, but later dies. “The army is the army, that’s one thing, but these are civilians who waited until the last minute,” a concerned soldier told the police. New York Times†
There will be no quiet place for you on this earth. except the grave
Atrocities against civilians
The drama surrounding the family does not leave President Zelensky untouched. In an emotional speech, he promises to punish “every bastard” who committed atrocities against civilians during the invasion of Ukraine. “Today a family was murdered. A man, a woman and two children. Right on the road. When they were just trying to get out of town. To escape,” says Zelenski about the killed family.
,,How many of these families have already died in Ukraine? We will not forgive. We will not forget.” Finally, Zelensky addresses the Russian troops he believes are responsible for the attack. “We will punish anyone who has committed atrocities in this war. On our land. We’ll find every bastard. Who fired at our cities and our people. Who bombed our country. Who fired missiles. Who gave the order and pressed ‘start. There will be no quiet place for you on this earth. Except the grave.”
The identities of the family members have not been released, but according to American media, the daughter was eight years old and her brother a teenager.
killed before his eyes
Hundreds of civilians tried to cross a bridge in Irpin yesterday to the capital Kiev, a few kilometers away. They received support from a few soldiers, who helped, among other things, with carrying luggage. During the evacuation, a mortar bomb exploded near the bridge, killing at least eight people, including the family and a friend of theirs.
The mayor of Irpin describes on Telegram how the four were killed ‘before his eyes’ after a mortar bomb exploded near them. “It’s brutality, they’re monsters. Irpin is at war, Irpin has not surrendered,” Oleksandr Markushyn wrote on the social platform. Russian troops are currently trying to take full control of Irpin and Bucha, two cities just outside Kiev.
According to the Ukrainian army, Russia seems to have started collecting resources for the storming of Kiev, the general staff reports. Russian units want to gain tactical advantage by reaching the eastern suburbs of the city. According to Vadim Denisenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, the Russians have amassed quite a large amount of equipment and troops on routes to Kiev. “We assume that the battle for Kiev will be the most important battle of the coming days,” he said, according to online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda Sunday during a live TV broadcast.
Surprised about escape routes
In recent days there has been a lot of talk about the evacuation of civilians, whom Ukraine says are regularly shot at by Russian troops. According to Ukraine, the third round of peace talks with the Russians has led to small positive developments regarding civilian escape routes. The Russians thought it was too early to talk about anything positive afterwards. They expect to sit down with Ukraine again ‘very soon’ for a fourth round.
The corridors had been agreed at the previous meeting last Thursday. But Ukrainians and Russians accuse each other of violating the ceasefire during evacuations, as a result of which, for example, hardly any residents could leave the port city of Mariupol. The Ukrainian government in Kiev is also outraged that flight routes planned by the Russians lead to Russia and its ally Belarus, ie to enemy areas.
View the photo of the deceased family below. Beware: the photo can be experienced as shocking:
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