Russia and Ukraine: the hard story of the family of a Ukrainian police officer who denounces that Russian soldiers killed his wife and children

This article contains stories that may be disturbing.

A family trying to escape from the Russian army was deliberately attacked by soldiers at a checkpoint, according to their relatives. Five people died.

On February 24, when Russian forces began their invasion of Ukraine, the Fedko family made a desperate attempt to flee their home in the city of Khersonin the south of the country, to reunite with loved ones in a town where they thought they would be safe.

Oleg, who is a police officer, had to stay in Kherson because his department was on war alert.

His wife, Irina, was rescued by Oleg’s father along with the couple’s children: Sofía, 6 years old, and Iván, who was not yet 2 months old. They went to the town of See him.

Shortly after their arrival, Russian forces entered the village. The soldiers came from Crimea, the region Russia invaded and annexed with little resistance in 2014.

Water and electricity services were cut off.

Worried about being caught up in the fighting, the family decided to flee again, this time to the town of Nova Kakhovkawhere other relatives lived.

Now it was a larger group, divided into two cars. In one were Oleg’s aunt, uncle and cousins. In the second were his parents, his wife and children.

During their journey they drove along a dam (already under Russian control) to cross the Dnieper River, which runs through Ukraine and bisects the country.

The first car passed through a checkpoint manned by Russian soldiers, and the family lost sight of the second car.

Oleg’s brother Denis was monitoring his movements by phone from Cherkasy in central Ukraine. At 5:13 p.m. local time, he called his mother.

“I was trying to convince my mother not to go to Nova Kajovka and not to stay in Vesele,” he said. “I told them: ‘Go to Odessa, I have a flat for you there.’”

At that moment, he said, he heard his mother scream: “My God, it’s a boy, how can you do that”. His sister-in-law was also screaming.

“Then I heard the sound of gunshots,” he recounted. “The car stopped and I heard the open door beep. I heard the baby cry. She cried, cried, cried. then i heard [más] shots,” the man said.

Dennis was shocked.

the car shot up

His aunt, who was in the first car and is also called Irina, was desperately trying to call her sister, Denis’s mother. She didn’t answer. She tried to call others in the car, but no one was answering the phone. Irina was in a panic. They decided to return.

“Back at the checkpoint,” he said, “we ran up to a soldier and asked about the car.” The soldier, Irina said, pointed to a ditch and commented: “The driver did not obey orders and almost ran over an officer.”

Irina said she begged the soldiers to let her and Oleksandr, her husband, go to the car.

“I said there were children there,” Irina recounted. Two soldiers went to the vehicle. Oleksandr followed them. The car, he said, was riddled with bullets. “The front, the back and both sides had bullet holes in them.”.

Ivan was pulled out by one of the soldiers. He was crying. “I’ve told them that [la niña] was there too and I ran to the car. Sofia was in the back seat,” Oleksandr said. “I looked at her and she had a hole in her chest.” All three adults – Oleg’s parents and his wife – had been killed.

Sophia was still alive. Ivan was silent. Irina and Oleksandr took the children to their car and drove to a hospital in Nova Kajovka.

But the doctors couldn’t save them.

It turned out that Ivan had also been shot. “He was shot in the ear and the bullet went through the back of his head. His face was clean, but the back of his head was covered in blood. He was still alive and crying,” Oleksandr explained.

“All that time the soldiers were close by,” he added, “but they didn’t even come to check on the people” in the car.

“Now I’m scared”

Irina is heartbroken. “I still can’t believe they’re gone. I don’t even understand that this happened to us,” she said. “I cry all the time.”

The Russian military only allowed the family to retrieve the bodies of the adults the next day. The doctor who inspected the bodies told them that they had all died from multiple gunshot wounds.

The BBC requested a statement about this incident from the Russian Defense Ministry.

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court (ICC) detailed that it collects evidence on alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by Russia in Ukraine.

And the UN Human Rights Council voted to establish a commission to investigate alleged human rights violations committed during the invasion.

Russian soldiers are now digging trenches and fortifying their positions in Nova Kakhovka and nearby villages. The local population lives in constant fear. “I wasn’t afraid before,” said Irina. “But now I’m scared”.

“There were some Russian soldiers near a pharmacy today. They were going through people’s phones and their pockets. And they pointed their guns at them. We got in the car and drove away,” said Irina through tears.

Oleg continues with his work in the police department, despite the loss of his wife and children.

“He is doing everything he can to protect our citizens,” Denis said. “But his pain at not being able to protect his own family while defending the nation is unimaginable”. (I)