Kherson Children's Hospital Took On Orphans Amid Fears Of Child Deportations

KHERSON, UKRAINE - NOVEMBER 27: The overgrown playground of the Kherson Children's house (orphanage) where Russian forces allegedly took 46 children from, is seen on November 27, 2022 in Kherson, Ukraine.Throughout Kherson’s more than eight months under Russian control, children at a local orphanage that were disabled or became sick were sent to the children's hospital for treatment. Since the start of the invasion staff at the children’s hospital have cared for and protected a group of 10 orphans between the ages of two months and two and a half years old, after hearing that occupying authorities were forcibly removing children to Crimea and Russia itself. Ukraine alleges that there were thousands of such abductions, including 46 from the local orphanage where these children lived prior to the invasion. During the occupation, staff worked in 24-hour shifts with minimal supplies, and, when Russian soldiers would visit the hospital, would present altered medical charts to show that the healthy children had serious medical conditions or were too ill to travel, protecting them from being taken to Russia. Ukraine reclaimed Kherson earlier this month, but conditions at the hospital are still challenging. Electricity is intermittent and there has been an uptick in Russian shelling, prompting some staff to resign their roles and leave the city. Some nurses are now working 48 to 72-hour shifts, often by the light of one lamp and flashlights, caring for the orphans as well as other patients. One nurse, who continues to work at the hospital adopted one of the orphans. The whereabouts of the missing 46 children from the local orphanage remains unknown. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)