Thirteen children orphaned when both parents died from Covid a week apart | Alds

Vladimir Rodikov and Diana Rodikova, were parents to five of their own and eight foster children in Lipovy Skitok, Ukraine, The Sun reports.

The couple were hospitalised at the Vasilkovsky central district hospital after suffering serious COVID complications in March.

The father of the extended family died on March 20, while his wife struggled to cling on in a critical condition before she was transferred to the intensive care unit of the Alexander Hospital in Kiev.

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The loving mother died just a week later on March 29, while their devastated children were put in the care of the Kiev Regional Children’s Hospital.

They have since been relocated to the ‘Sezenkov’, the Kiev regional centre for children.

Only a month and a half before her passing, Diana was awarded ‘Mother Heroine’, an honorary title given by the President of Ukraine to women who have given birth and raised five or more children up to the age of eight.

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The couple had moved from the warn-torn district of Donetsk to the Kiev region in 2014, with the hope of starting a new life in an orphanage in the village of Lipovy Skitok.

The Rodikovs’ deaths have rocked the family with just two of their children at adult age.

Family friend Olga Onishchenko explained that the eldest daughter looks to continue in her parent’s footsteps and has decided, along with her husband, to take custody of the orphaned adolescents, according to news site Novosti Donbassa.

The Kiev Regional State Administration is currently considering her request to take custody of the children.

Ukraine has seen a dramatic spike in Covid cases across the country with 1,652,409 infections and deaths soaring past 32,000.

The country is currently under a state of emergency due to the pandemic that is in place until at least April 30.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission