Anonymous ID: 062406 March 24, 2023, 6:39 p.m. No.18575795   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>18575774

Kherson, Ukraine

CNN

A boom of artillery fire shook the ground as Olena opened the gate to the Kherson Children’s Home.

 

She barely flinched.

 

Russian positions are just across the Dnipro River and Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, is under regular attack.

 

Like many Ukrainians during this war, Olena prefers not to share her last name. She has worked at the orphanage for more than 17 years.

 

Olena said she loved all the children at the home, but she was closest to Arkasha. “Of course, everyone has their favorite, but he was mine,” she said.

 

Five-year-old Arkasha’s locker is orange – with a sticker of a rooster on it. His name is neatly printed in Cyrillic script.

 

Inside the rooms, there are paintings of bunnies holding balloons, floating through the sky; play areas for toddlers; cupboards stacked with toys. In the bedrooms, sparkling clean cots and tiny bunk beds with brightly colored mattresses.

 

But the 48 children who lived here are gone – seized by Russian officials during the city’s months-long occupation.

 

“I feel emptiness, emptiness. Everything has stopped,” said Olena. “The children were happy. They had everything!”