Erin Burnett cries on CNN while interviewing bereaved Ukrainian man

CNN host Erin Burnett broke down in tears while interviewing a Ukrainian man who learned of the deaths of his wife and children after seeing a photo of their lifeless bodies online.

Serhiy Perebyinis, who learned his loved ones were killed by a Russian mortar after seeing a dramatic photo that appeared in the New York Times, appeared on Burnett’s late-night show Out Front on Wednesday.

Burnett asked Perebyinis – who was fighting Russian soldiers who invaded his country when his wife, son and daughter were killed – if he buried his loved ones.

After telling Burnett that he had buried his family, she said to him, “Serhiy, as a parent, no one in the whole world can imagine your unbearable loss, especially the loss of your children.”

Burnett, the mother of three young children, got emotional.

“Can you tell me about it?” she said, fighting back tears.

“We used to see each other on Google Maps with my wife and that morning I noticed that there was an unusual geolocation between Kyiv and her ping, and then 20 minutes later her phone moved to a different location, in a hospital in Kyiv and I suspected something was wrong,” said Perebyinis.

“And I’ve asked friends to come to the hospital and find out if there’s bad news, and then Twitter, there was news on Twitter … there was mortar fire and that a family died: two children, their mother and father.”

He added: “And then I saw a photo on Twitter and I recognized my kids. I recognized her things and her clothes.”

“And I called my friends to tell them, ‘The kids are dead. Their bodies are on the sidewalk,’ and I said, ‘Please, could you help me find my wife.'”

Burnett, visibly crying, asked Perebyinis what he remembered about his children.

“If someone watching could learn about Alyssa and the kids, what would you want to tell them?” she asked.

Perebyinis replied: “They were normal children. My son was older. He was 18 and he was a sophomore of college. He wanted to be a computer scientist. started programming.”

“And my daughter was 9 years old and she liked dancing and painting. She studied English.”

“They were normal, happy kids.”

Ukrainian officials said at least 103 children were killed during the Russian invasion, although the real number is believed to be much higher.