DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) – Tamara Popova and her fellow orphans lead lives filled with uncertainty. But they know one thing: They don’t want to be taken to Russia.
The separatist gunmen running this eastern Ukrainian city aren’t asking: They’re the ones giving orders.
As the battle between insurgent and government troops closes in on the city, the 130 or so children living at Donetsk Orphanage No. 1 find themselves in the middle of a tug of war. The insurgents say the children will be better off in Russia. Ukraine says taking them outside the country would be tantamount to kidnap.
“Normal people would ask our opinion,” the 16-year-old Popova said, as other orphans nodded in agreement. “We told them that this was against the law, that we have brothers and sisters here.”
The orphanage has children from age 7 into their late teens. It’s clean and well-ordered. Pictures of stars from the local Shaktyar Donetsk soccer team hang in one room. Another is decorated with a fairytale tableau. Girls’ bedrooms are decked in pink wallpaper and hung with floral pattern curtains.