Ukrainians Hid Orphaned Children from Russian Deportation

Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, health workers at a children's hospital in southern Ukraine started secretly planning how to save their babies.

Russians were suspected of seizing young children without parents and sending them to Russia. Knowing this, the workers at the children's hospital in Kherson began to make up information on the medical records of orphan¹ patients. The health workers wanted to make it appear that the children were too sick to go anywhere else.

"We were scared that (the Russians) would find out," said Dr. Olga Pilyarska, the head of intensive care. "(But) we decided² that we would save the children at any cost."

Throughout the war, Russia has been accused of sending Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held areas to raise them as their own. At least 1,000 children were taken from schools and orphanages⁴ in Kherson during Russia's eight-month occupation of the area, local officials say. The officials still do not know where those children are.

Kherson residents say even more children would have gone missing if community members had not risked their lives to protect and hide as many children as they could.

Volodymyr Sahaidak is director of a social and mental services center in a village just outside of Kherson city. He falsified paperwork to hide 52 orphans⁵ and at-risk children. The 61-year-old placed some of the children with seven of his employees. Others were taken to distant family members. Some of the older ones, he said, remained with him. "It seemed that if I did not hide my children they would simply be taken away from me," Sahaidak said.

Moving them was not easy. Russia seized Kherson and much of the area in March. The Russians started separating orphans at checkpoints along roads. Sahaidak was forced to get creative about how to transport the children. One time, he made up records that claimed a group of children had received treatment in the hospital and were being taken by their aunt to be reunited with their very pregnant mother. The story worked.

Not all children were as lucky. At the orphanage³ in Kherson, about 50 children were removed in October and reportedly taken to Russia-controlled Crimea. Reporters with The Associated Press confirmed the story with a security guard at the orphanage and people who live near the area.

Earlier this year, The Associated Press (AP) reported that Russia is trying to give thousands of Ukrainian children to Russian families, either temporarily or permanently⁶. The AP reported that officials have sent Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held areas against their will. The officials lied to children and told them their parents did not want them.

The AP reporters found that Russian officials used the Ukrainian children for propaganda and gave them Russian families and Russian citizenship⁷.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, D.C.-based group, says Russian officials are carrying out a depopulation campaign in occupied parts of Ukraine. The group says Russia is sending Ukrainian children to Russia under false claims of medical needs and adoption⁸ programs.

Russian officials have repeatedly said that moving children to Russia is meant to protect them from hostilities⁹. The Russian Foreign Ministry¹⁰ has rejected claims that the country is seizing and deporting¹² the children. It has noted¹³ that the officials are searching for the family members of parentless children left in Ukraine in order to send them home when possible.

Russian children's rights representative Maria Lvova-Belova personally oversaw¹⁴ moving hundreds of orphans from Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine for adoption by Russian families. She has claimed that some of the children were offered the chance to return to Ukraine but refused to do so. Her statement could not be independently confirmed.

Galina Lugova is head of Kherson's military administration. She said local and national security and law officials are looking for the children who were moved. But they still do not know what happened to them.

"We do not know the fate of these children ... we do not know where the children from orphanages or from our educational institutions are, and this is a problem," Lugova said.

For now, Kherson locals are leading the effort to find the children and bring them home.

Words in This Story

orphan – n. a child whose parents are dead

orphanage – n. a place where children whose parents have died can live and be cared for

resident – n. someone who lives in a particular place

adopt – v. to take a child of other parents legally as your own child

deport¹¹ – v. to force (a person who is not a citizen) to leave a country

fate – n. the things that will happen to a person or thing

institution – n. an established organization

1 orphan   

n.孤儿；adj.无父母的

参考例句：

• He brought up the orphan and passed onto him his knowledge of medicine.他把一个孤儿养大，并且把自己的医术传给了他。
• The orphan had been reared in a convent by some good sisters.这个孤儿在一所修道院里被几个好心的修女带大。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

4 orphanages   

孤儿院( orphanage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It is Rotarians running orphanages for children who have no homes. 扶轮社员们为没有家的孩子办孤儿院。
• Through the years, she built churches, hospitals and orphanages. 许多年来，她盖了一间间的教堂、医院、育幼院。

5 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

6 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

7 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

8 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

9 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

10 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

11 deport   

vt.驱逐出境

参考例句：

• We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
• More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。

12 deporting   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的现在分词 )；举止

参考例句：

13 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

14 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网