The place has remained the symbol of the chaos that reigned in the first days of the war in Ukraine: the Irpin bridge, which the Ukrainian army blew up to slow down the advance of the Russian army. A few meters from this bridge, the story of a family moved the whole world. Eleven months later, “Special Envoy” met Sergei, who lost his wife and children that day.
The Irpin bridge, destroyed by the Ukrainian army to prevent the advance of Russian vehicles, remained the symbol of the chaos that followed the invasion of February 24, 2022. In this city on the outskirts of Kiev, that was the point passage of civilians who wanted to leave Ukraine at all costs.
That day, a mortar shell fell on the exodus route. Four people were killed, including two children. Eleven months later, a team of “Special Envoy” met their father. In the explosion, Sergei lost his daughter, his son, and his wife Tatiana: his whole family. Alissa was 9 years old, and Nikita, 19, was studying computer science.
Since the start of the war, he himself had been at the bedside of his sick mother, 800 kilometers from his relatives. Half of the inhabitants of the building left in the first days of the conflict, he says. He asked his wife to wait two days, so that there would be fewer people on the roads. But on March 4, their building was bombed by the Russians, and the departure had to be postponed.
A tweet from the “New York Times”
“On March 6, they left, by car to the bridge – the Irpin bridge, which was destroyed. They continued on foot in the direction of kyiv,” says Sergei. In the photo he received on his mobile phone, his daughter is carrying the cat’s cage, his son is waving and smiling. This is the last image he has of them. “Fifteen minutes later, they were dead.”
Shortly after, Sergei noticed on the site of the New York Times a tweet without a photo, saying that a family has been killed. “When the photo was published, I recognized them”, he said. His last words to his family on the phone were these: “Forgive me for not being with you.”
Excerpt from “Special Envoy” of February 16, 2023, special evening “Ukraine, an endless war?”
> Replays of France Télévisions news magazines are available on the Franceinfo website and its mobile application (iOS & Android), “Magazines” section.