‘WE WERE SCARED’

Ukrainian Docs Saved Orphan Babies From Russians With Fake Medical Records

Medical staff made it look like the infants were too ill to be deported.

Ukrainian doctors saved orphaned babies from being deportation by faking their medical records within hours of the Russian invasion in February. Medics at the children’s regional hospital in Kherson told the Associated Press that they altered the documents to make the children seem more unwell than they really were. “We deliberately wrote false information that the children were sick and could not be transported,” said Dr. Olga Pilyarska, head of intensive care. “We were scared that [the Russians] would find out … [but] we decided that we would save the children at any cost.” Local authorities say at least 1,000 Ukrainian kids were snatched from orphanages and schools throughout the city during Moscow’s eight-month occupation, with the children being sent to Russia or Russian-held territories for the children to be raised as Russian families’ own.