The Apartment of Candles: The Ukrainian Mother Who Left Her Children to Die
While she spent 9 days with her lover, her toddlers were tearing at the wallpaper in a desperate attempt to survive.
The story of Vladislava Podchapko is one of the darkest chapters in modern criminal history. It is a tragedy that represents not just neglect, but the pinnacle of human coldness and evil hidden behind a normal face and glamorous social media photos.
The House Haunted by Silence
In December 2016, in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, life was moving normally in a residential building. But behind the locked door of Apartment No. 5, a hell was being slow-cooked. Vladislava, a 20-year-old mother, decided to start a "new life" with her new lover. Because her two children, Anna (23 months old) and Daniil (11 months old), were obstacles to her plans, she made a decision that no human mind can comprehend.
She packed her bags and turned the key in the lock, leaving behind two children who didn't even have the strength to reach the doorknob. She left them nothing but a few candles and a tiny amount of food—not even enough for a single day—and set off to spend nine full days with her boyfriend in another apartment across the city.
Nine Days of Agony
The tragedy began with ordinary childhood cries for food or affection, but as the hours passed and daylight faded, the cries turned into terrifying wails. The children were trapped in total darkness after the candles flickered out.
Daniil’s Suffering: 11-month-old Daniil was the first victim. His small body could not withstand the extreme hunger and acute dehydration. On the sixth day of isolation, his voice went silent forever; he died alone on the cold floor of the room.
Anna’s Bitter Survival: Anna, not yet three years old, found herself alone with her younger brother's lifeless body for three more days. Investigation reports described desperate attempts to survive; Anna had tried to eat scraps of wallpaper she tore off with her teeth and resorted to drinking water from the toilet bowl as her thirst became unbearable. She lived in a state of terror and shock, repeatedly trying to wake her brother, who no longer responded.
Neighbors and the Lost Opportunity
The most infuriating part of this story is that the neighbors heard the screams. Some later reported hearing constant crying and wailing for days. Some even claimed they called the police, but the apartment was never breached under the pretext that there was no "court order" or because the sounds eventually quieted down. The silence that followed Daniil’s death was the very sign everyone mistook for the end of the problem, while Anna was dying in silence.
The Return and Shocking Indifference
When Vladislava finally returned after nine days, she didn't return because she felt guilty; she likely returned to see what had happened. Upon opening the door, she found her son dead and her daughter in a near-comatose state. Instead of collapsing, she called the police with an eerie calmness.
During the investigation, she stunned detectives with a single sentence: "I didn't know that children could die so quickly." As authorities searched her phone, they discovered a grand betrayal: throughout the nine days her children were starving, Vladislava was posting photos of herself laughing, eating lavish meals, and writing love notes to her boyfriend, acting as if she had never been a mother at all.
Delayed Justice
The case sparked a massive wave of public outrage in Ukraine and around the world. Initially, she was sentenced to only eight years in prison—a verdict the public viewed as an insult to Daniil’s soul. Her lawyers argued she was suffering from psychological issues, but the prosecution proved she was in full control of her faculties and had been very organized in hiding her crime from her mother (who thought the children were with her).
After an appeal and immense public pressure, the sentence was later increased to Life Imprisonment, acknowledging that her actions constituted intentional murder by torture through abandonment.
Epilogue: After the Tragedy
As for Anna, she was taken to intensive care in critical condition. Miraculously, doctors managed to save her life. However, the psychological scars left by those nine days in the dark next to her brother's body cannot be healed by medicine. She was placed in a care home and eventually adopted by a new family, far away from the tragedy of her past.
The story of Vladislava Podchapko remains a chilling reminder that monsters can wear human faces, and a harsh lesson for societies on the necessity of intervention. Behind silent walls, tragedies beyond imagination may be unfolding.
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