A Ukrainian father, who has been chronicling his daily life under the war, has shared a moving moment when he sang “Yesterday” by The Beatles to his infant son, showing how people in the war-torn country are enduring the struggles.
Alex Dayrabekov, who fled from Bucha – a town that has now become a grim centre of Russia’s “massacre” and “genocide” with images of bodies strewn across the streets – spoke to CNN and said his“heart is tearing into pieces”.
“I was really shocked and I started crying … Some of the words really are about this situation”, he told CNN’s Jim Acosta. “Your life changed completely within this time.”
“[It] is the right song for this situation. I’ve been singing it to my first son, who is 25 years old now, and I sing it to this kid as well,” he said.
Mr Dayrabekov’s third son was born two weeks before Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine and he fled Bucha just before his apartment block was struck by enemy forces.
But the father has refused to leave Ukraine and is adamant on collecting evidence to help in international trials.
The heartwarming video shows Mr Dayrabekov singing the song to his gurgling baby.
This comes as the father’s native town was compared to a graveyard in reports with Ukraine claiming to have found hundreds of bodies strewn around in Bucha northwest of capital Kyiv and satellite images showed 45-foot-long trench of mass graves.
Ukraine accused Russia of committing war crimes after officials said they have found more than 400 corpses, some with bound hands, gunshot wounds to the head, and showing signs of torture, after Russian soldiers withdrew from the outskirts of the country’s capital.
Russia has denied mass killings and launched an investigation into the allegations on Monday with Ukraine carrying out its own investigation.
Mr Dayrabekov said he “cannot stop crying sometimes” and he has been collecting testimonies as proof of Russian forces’ alleged crimes.
“I actually evacuated one family but three days later, it was already impossible to evacuate,” he said. “And the people who I know, my neighbours, tried to escape in caravans of cars and they were killed — civilians with kids.”
He said his relatives in Russia are “completely silent” over the happenings and they have been “brainwashed” by the government.
“I tried for the first week to talk to my relatives, to the ones who I know in Russia, and they are completely silent,” he said. “They are completely brainwashed, and I don’t want to spend my nerves and energy on that. I’m going to collect the evidence, I’m going to help the victims and the eyewitnesses, and I’m going to do everything possible that the international trials will happen, and those who did it will pay.”
When asked what he will tell his newborn when he grows up, Mr Dayrabekov said he would say that he began his life at a “historic time when the entire country got together against this evil”.
“Because this is not even a war. It’s a massacre. It’s a genocide,” he said.
The video is being circulated on Twitter and several users said the video moved them to tears.
“I watched this loving father sing to his infant son in a war zone. The baby felt so safe with his daddy the falling bombs didn’t seem to bother him. His little body did react to hiccups!” a user, Susan Fader said.
Mr Dayrabekov concluded by saying: “They came to erase our nation. Everyone is fighting. Everyone is fighting in this country for our country, for our land, and for human values and for freedom.”
“And I’m sure that what is happening now will change the entire history of the country, of Europe, and of the world.”
