Demonstrations were held in Washington, D.C., in support of Ukraine on the fourth day of Russia's assault on the country.
People gathered in front of the White House and the Russian Embassy to the United States to condemn the invasion and to call for "more action" to be taken to support the Ukrainian people. Many expressed to the Washington Examiner that what they "feel is nothing compared" to how people in Ukraine feel.
Nazar, who identified as a Ukrainian citizen living in Pennsylvania, told the Washington Examiner that his wife, Maria, "has a pregnant cousin that's in and out of bomb shelter every hour, every two hours."
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"My entire family is in Ukraine," said Anastasia, who noted she is a Ukrainian citizen. "Our friends are here with us as well. Their whole families are back home, currently they are in the basement and bunkers because they are being bombed constantly."
Forrest, Anastasia's husband, said the couple has friends who had been vacationing in Mexico, and they were supposed to fly back to the Ukraine on Monday. "We're trying to get them refugee status here in the United States because the White House mentioned that we would be accepting refugees," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation," with a full-scale invasion on Ukraine beginning in the early hours of Thursday morning. Since then, there have been several protests held in D.C., including an incident in which the word "murder" was spray painted outside of the Russian Embassy.
"We just went through a pandemic, and now this," said Khrstyna Manot, who identified as a Ukrainian citizen based out of New Jersey. "We're going up against the world's largest Army, and we can't, we need more."
"I understand the United States has been helping, but it's not enough," Manot said. "I think they can do a lot more and they should do a lot more. In '94, they promised us that, and I think they should step in. I feel like, they're just too scared of Putin and he's just becoming more and more powerful and nobody's stopping him."
President Joe Biden announced on Thursday the U.S. would be imposing more sanctions against Russia in light of the invasion on Ukraine.
"We've now sanctioned Russian banks that together hold around $1 trillion in assets. We've cut off Russia's largest bank, a bank that holds more than one-third of Russia's banking assets by itself. We've cut it off from the U.S. financial system," Biden said during a press conference Thursday afternoon. "And today, we're also blocking four more major banks. That means every asset they have in America will be frozen. This includes VTB, the second-largest bank in Russia, which has $250 billion in assets."
The White House announced plans Friday for the United States to join European allies in directly sanctioning Putin and top members of his national security team. Biden has also authorized hundreds of millions of dollars more in military assistance to Ukraine, mirroring aid given by European countries, and Russian lenders have been excluded from the SWIFT messaging system.
As the invasion stretched into the weekend, masses of Russian citizens have come out against the attack. "It's heartbreaking and it's unbelievable," said Russian citizen, Bolina.
"I have family in Russia, but most of my friends are Ukrainian," Bolina said, adding that while she feels the U.S. government is "doing what they can," under the current situation, it is still "never enough."
Ukrainian and Russian officials are reportedly set to begin talks at the Belarusian border, with no preconditions.
While Putin has expressed that he has been ready for "talks" since Friday, according to the Kremlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially resisted meeting in Belarus due to the country's pro-Moscow relationship and it being used as one of the staging grounds for Russia's attack.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/protesters-against-russias-war-on-ukraine-rally-at-white-house-and-russian-embassy-in-dc
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