"The Russians wished us good luck. Then they started shooting at us"

13-year-old Elisha, along with his mother and three-year-old brother, tried to evacuate from the occupied village of Peremoha. Russian soldiers shot a column of cars. Seven people died at that place. The red hat of Elisha, which is pierced with enemy bullets, will forever remain a symbol of cunning and atrocities of Russian invaders.

“On March 11, the Russians gave us their permission to leave. They even waved goodbye to us and wished us luck. Then, as we were crossing the field, they started shooting at us from all the sides,” ‒ Inna, the mother of two sons, recollects.

When the war started, Inna and her two children got stuck in the village of Peremoha near Kyiv; the younger boy was three, and the elder one, Yelisey Riabokon, was thirteen.

An honest and shy boy who used to help others and didn’t like to fight will always be 13 from now on.

The family was trying to get out of Peremoha, which was occupied at the time: at first, they walked, then they managed to leave in the group of five cars. The Russians clearly saw that those were only women and children; they let people out, waved them goodbye, and then shot the car treacherously.

Seven people, including Yelisey, died then and there. A red hat the boy was wearing is shot through by bullets. A white T-shirt he put over his coat for the Russians to see that he was a peaceful person is covered in blood.

Inna managed to save her three-year-old son, pulling him by the hood of his coat. The woman says that her younger child is her only reason to live on.

“I want the world to know about Russia’s crimes. I want every victim to count. I want Russia to be held responsible for people, children, and women they killed in our land,” ‒ she says.

A story from the instagram of the Victims of russia channel.