Daily Times

At their home in the middle of Siberia, Russian pastor Roman Vinogradov and his wife Yekaterina are the new foster parents of five children from Moscow-occupied eastern Ukraine. The Vinogradovs are experienced fosterers now raising 16 children, including four of their own, and say they just want to help those who are “very much in need”. But Ukraine and human rights groups have condemned the forced transfer of thousands of children into Russia or Moscow-controlled territory since the invasion last year. Russia says it is simply taking in “refugee” children from Ukraine. “I didn’t steal anyone. And they (the children) don’t think they were stolen,” Vinogradov, a 41-year-old Protestant minister, told AFP.The Vinogradovs, who lives in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, more than 3,000 kilometres (1,800 miles) east of Moscow, said local authorities asked them to take in Ukrainian children after they requested another child. “They phoned from children’s services, saying: ‘Will you take children from Ukraine?” said Yekaterina Vinogradova, 38. “We said: ‘Yes, we’ll take them’.” “What difference does it make? Children are children everywhere. It doesn’t matter what nation.”