Children in the shelter are constantly malnourished. Due to exhaustion, some of them die, as one of the Russian women who adopted a child there said.

The whereabouts of 14 orphans from Kherson, who were taken by the Russian authorities to the territory controlled by the Russian Federation during the occupation of the city, became known.

As Verstka found out, Ukrainian orphans were placed in the Yalynka Orphanage in Simferopol, which is subordinate to the Crimean Ministry of Health.

The location of the children became known thanks to the pictures published on the “Adoption in the Moscow region” website as part of the report on the results of the “Become Santa Claus” campaign.

The media drew attention to the fact that in the letters that were attached to each of the photos, fourteen postcards were written in the same handwriting. In each of them, it was mentioned that the child, who turns to Santa Claus, came from Kherson.

According to the media, this place gained the fame of the German concentration camp “Auschwitz” because of the cruel treatment of the inmates. In 2020, several mothers who adopted children from “Yalynka” spoke about the inhumane conditions of keeping orphans.

One of them, Olga Kramna, reported that at the time of adoption, her two-year-old son weighed six kilograms. He could not sit, speak or eat on his own. After medical examination, dystrophy, dehydration, rickets and skull deformation were found in the boy.

Also, one of the former employees of “Yalynka” told how local nurses cared for orphans in the shelter.

“It’s even uncomfortable to repeat what I heard from them: “Don’t pour juice to children: you’ll leave, and they’ll spoil us. Don’t take it in your hands: get used to it, the next shift will come, the child will beg.” They didn’t feed at night – you have to sleep. They didn’t give water, only mixtures. The night kefir went into bottles for the employees,” she said.

Her story caused a stir in the media, but after an inspection by the regional Ministry of Health, the Investigative Committee and the prosecutor’s office, no violations were found in “Yalynka”, and the exhausted children were not even paid attention to.

“There were a lot of inspections, but all these inspections were mostly of an excursion nature, so they all did not notice the exhausted children who are still there. Some have already died during this time,” added the ex-employee of Kramna.

The publication assumes that the children from Kherson, who were in the photos, were transported to Crimea in October 2022 during the so-called evacuation of local residents on the eve of the liberation of the city as a result of the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Officially, the orphanage specializes in working with children with lesions of the central nervous system, mental and behavioral disorders, hearing, vision and HIV. However, his “Work Program” for 2021-2025 emphasizes that the institution should also educate children in “patriotism” and the understanding that “Crimea is in the south of Russia.”

Occupation of Kherson

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine since February 24, 2022, the Kherson region has been under temporary occupation.

During the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on November 11, 2022, Ukrainian fighters liberated Kherson, pushing Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnieper.

Currently, 20-30% of the civilian population remains in the occupied part of the Kherson region.