KHERSON, Ukraine : Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, health workers at a children's hospital in the south began secretly planning how to save the babies.
The staff at Kherson's regional children's hospital fiddled with orphans' medical records to make it appear that they were too sick to move. Records were fabricated due to growing suspicion that Russians were suspected of kidnapping orphan children and transporting them outside the country
At least 1,000 children were seized from schools and orphanages in the Kherson region during Russia's occupation of the area, say local authorities.
Their whereabouts are still unknown. "We decided that we would save the children at any cost," an ICU doctor says.
Hospital staff in Kherson invented diseases for 11 abandoned babies under their care. They knew they'd be given Russian documents and potentially taken away. Residents say even more children would have gone missing if it weren't for the efforts of some in the community.
Volodymyr Sahaidak the director of a centre for social and psychological rehabilitation falsified paperwork to hide 52 orphaned and vulnerable children. After Russia occupied Kherson and much of the region in March, they started separating orphans at checkpoints. "It seemed that if I did not hide my children they would simply be taken away from me".
Some 50 children were evacuated in October and allegedly taken to Crimea, a security guard says.
At the start of the invasion, a local aid group tried to hide the children in a church but the Russians found them several months later and evacuated them. Russia is trying to give thousands of Ukrainian children to Russian families for foster care or adoption.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, says Russian officials are conducting a deliberate depopulation campaign in occupied parts of Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry has rejected the claims that the country is seizing and deporting the children. Russia has said that moving children to Russia is intended to protect them from hostilities.
UNICEF's Europe and Central Asia child protection regional adviser, Aaron Greenberg, said that until the fate of a child's parents or other close relatives can be verified, an assessment must be led by authorities in the countries where the child was separated from his or her family.
In July, Russians brought 15 children from Ukraine's front lines to Sahaidak rehabilitation center in Kherson. They are expected to return to Ukraine in the coming weeks. Local officials still don't know what happened to the other children who were taken away.
For some, the threat of Russia deporting children has brought unexpected results. In October when there were signs that the Russians were retreating, Tetiana Pavelko, a nurse at the children’s hospital, worried they’d take the babies with them. Unable to bear children of her own, the 43-year-old rushed to the ward and adopted a 10-month-old girl.
Wiping tears of joy from her cheeks, Pavelko said she named the baby Kira after a Christian martyr. “She helped people, healed and performed many miracles,” she said.