You're reading: The Guardian: The stranded babies of Kyiv and the women who give birth for money

The Guardian: The stranded babies of Kyiv and the women who give birth for money

Published June 16, 2020 at 12:59 am

Nurses care for newborn babies at the Venice hotel that belongs to the BioTexCom clinic, which provides surrogacy services, on May 15, 2020. More than 100 babies born to surrogate mothers in Ukraine have been stranded as their foreign parents cannot come get them because of the travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Photo by AFP

Some are crying in their cots; others are being cradled or bottle-fed by nannies. These newborns are not in the nursery of a maternity hospital, they are lined up side by side in two large reception rooms of the improbably named Hotel Venice on the outskirts of Kyiv, protected by outer walls and barbed wire.