Parents dumped their young sons at a Ukrainian homeless camp where they were left to wander naked amongst drunken vagrants for a week, ‘so their parents could get some rest.’
Andrey, three, and his younger brother Maksim, two, spent a week living in squalor in Zaporizhia last month, drinking from a river, foraging through rubbish and watched over by homeless men.
Mother Bozhena Synychka, 20, and father Volodymyr Zaitsev, 25, abandoned the boys because they ‘were tired of looking after’ them, local media reported.
A vagrant, Sergey, 42, told local media: ‘A young couple came and asked to look after their children. The boys were completely naked and barefooted.
Andrey, three, and his younger brother Maksim, two, spent a week living in squalor in Zaporizhia last month, drinking from a river, foraging through rubbish and watched over by homeless men (pictured: the boys lying in blankets in the camp)
Mother Bozhena Synychka (left), 20, and father Volodymyr Zaitsev (right), 25, abandoned the boys because they ‘were tired of looking after’ them, local media reported.
‘The parents said they would go to a shop to buy some food and be back in 20 minutes. Then they went away and never came back.’
During next week the homeless shared their small amounts of food with the abandoned children and watched over them to prevent them from injuring themselves, according to local media.
On August 26 a female passerby, Olena Tashevska, accidentally spotted the toddlers among the tramps and alarmed the police.
She said: ‘I had leisure time and went to the Dnipro river. I was looking for a place to sunbathe when I stumbled on the hobos’ camp.
‘I was terrified to see two little boys lying there on filthy blankets. They were naked and extremely dirty. I immediately called the police.’
Officers arrived on the scene accompanied by an ambulance. While law enforcement interviewed the homeless, paramedics examined and dressed the brothers.
A vagrant, Sergey (pictured), 42, told local media: ‘A young couple came and asked to look after their children. The boys were completely naked and barefooted’
The squalid homeless camp in Zaporizhia, southeastern Ukraine
Sergey (left) alongside another vagrant who lies across the floor of their camp in the woods
Police spokeswoman Dina Kurnikova said: ‘The children lived like “Mowgli” boys. They did not wear any clothes and drank water from the river.
‘The boys were constantly hungry and foraged for food on the nearest beach delving into litter bins.’
Andrey and Maksim were taken to hospital and diagnosed with cold and malnutrition.
Paediatrician Taisa Klimenko from Zaporizhia Children’s Hospital #1 said: ‘The boys suffer from viral infectious disease and malnutrition. They are weak now and barely can walk.’
‘The children know their names and ages. They do not ask at all about their parents.’
When police found the mother, Synychka, and father, Zaitsev, they told officers that they ‘got tired of looking after the boys and needed to have some rest’, local media report.
The homeless shared their small amounts of food with the abandoned children and watched over them to prevent them from injuring themselves, according to local media.
Olena Tashevska, the woman who found the children in the homeless camp and alerted the police
Andrey and Maksim (pictured) will be placed in an orphanage until the court has made a decision
It is understood Synychka and Zaitsev make money by scavenging for scrap metal and selling it.
Police have now launched a criminal investigation against the parents for failing to fulfil their parental duties. The suspects face up to five years in prison if found guilty.
Local social services are going to sue the parents and deprive them of parental rights.
Andrey and Maksim will be placed in an orphanage until the court has made a decision.