“20 thousand for my daughter”: in Kharkiv, a mother sold her baby because she wanted to buy a car

While Ukrainian families weep over children’s graves, burying their sons and daughters who died from Russian shelling, nearby, in the same cities, other stories are born – so terrifying that it is difficult to fit them into the framework of human understanding. The war has turned out not only the depths of sacrifice, but also exposed the darkest depths of indifference. While some parents pray for the salvation of their children at the front or in intensive care, others decide that the child can be sold. This is exactly what a woman from Kharkiv did, who was sentenced for selling her two-month-old daughter.

Elizaveta Menshikova from Kharkiv was found guilty under the article on human trafficking and sentenced to eight years in prison. Sentence brought out Saltivsky District Court of Kharkiv. This is the minimum possible term according to this part of the article. However, even he does not reduce the shock of the details set forth in the verdict of the Saltiv District Court of Kharkiv.

The court found that a 22-year-old unemployed woman gave birth to a daughter on December 1, 2024, but decided to sell her in February 2025. At the dock, she explained that her daughter is not the child of her common-law husband, so he refused to help. The husband, whom she describes as a drug addict and unemployed, did not provide for the family. Therefore, according to her, she found herself in a dead end – with a one-year-old son in her arms, without support and money.

In February 2025, she met a woman who apparently expressed a desire to buy a child for $20,000. Elizabeth agreed. She knew that it was about human trafficking, but she stated in court: she was sure that she was giving the baby “to a good family.”

On February 12, she arrived at Kharkiv Hospital No. 17. Along with her newborn daughter and her original birth certificate. The child was examined by a pediatrician who stated that the girl was healthy. Then the child was left at the medical facility, and in the corridor the woman received the agreed amount — $20,000 in cash.

At that moment, law enforcement officers entered the hospital. The “buyer” turned out to be a co-operator of the police, who acted within the scope of investigative actions. The woman was detained on the spot.

At the time of her detention, Elizaveta lived in Kharkiv with her common-law husband, his relatives, daughter Milena, and eldest son Sashko, who is 1 year and 10 months old. After the mother’s arrest, Sashko was left alone in the apartment. Only in the evening of the same day, social services took him away and brought him to the hospital, where Milena was already there.

The pediatrician who examined the girl before the transfer, reportedthat she did not know about the woman’s intention to sell her child. She also noted that in 35 years of medical practice she encountered such a case for the first time.

The investigation revealed that the woman planned to use the funds received to move to another home, provide kindergarten for her eldest son, and buy a car. That is, there was no threat to life or hunger. The woman did not beg, did not stand on the edge of survival. She simply decided that a newborn child can be exchanged for a more comfortable life.

Milena is a two-month-old baby who does not yet realize what has happened. She is calm, warm, fed, doctors are nearby. But the fact that her life has already become the subject of an agreement will remain not only in the criminal case. But her brother Sashko has already experienced a change in the environment, separation from his mother, and the first signs of emotional stress.

This story is not only about crime and punishment. It reveals the other side of society, where along with the tragedies of the front and the rescue of children under shelling, there is everyday, quiet degradation. They don’t shoot here, but here they decide that a child is a resource. And even if the court assigns eight years, it does not answer the main question: how many more children will remain defenseless not because of war, but because of indifference and devaluation of life inside peaceful apartments.

While some hide their children, others sell them like things…