Two parents in Ukraine are facing criminal charges after they allegedly abandoned their two sons at a homeless camp because they wanted some rest from looking after them.
According to The Daily Mail newspaper, the pair named as Bozhena Synychka, 20, and Volodymyr Zaitsev, 25 were arrested after they left their sons Andrey, 3, and Maksim, 2, naked and alone at a homeless camp in Zaporizhia.
The Daily Mail state local media reports say the pair were left alone with a group of homeless men for almost a week last month.
Although the men reportedly shared food and looked after the boys, they were seen drinking water from a river and foraging for food by a passer-by who became deeply concerned for their welfare.
It is reported that the boy’s parents decided to leave the boys in the camp because they were tired looking after them and needed a rest.
According to one witness, the parents said they were leaving the boys there as they were just going to the shops to get some food and would be back within 20 minutes.
However they never returned to pick them up.
After responding to the incident police confirmed that the boys were taken to a local hospital where they were treated for malnutrition and viral infections.
Meanwhile both Synychka and Zaitsev face criminal charges and could face up to five years in prison if found guilty.