The local Ukrainian community protested the Russian invasion of their country outside the Massachusetts State House Thursday.
Russia launched its long-anticipated attack on Ukraine overnight, hitting cities and bases with airstrikes or shelling and killing dozens of people. Local Ukrainians were horrified.
"It's horrific. It's completely insane," said Julian D'Andre, whose mother still lives there in his childhood home. "A bomb went off 10 minutes from my home. It's hard to grasp."
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions in response, targeting Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors. But protesters said it doesn't go far enough.
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"We need the hardest of sanctions," D'Andre said.
More on the Russia-Ukraine crisis
Olga Ivaniv, who was born in the Soviet Union, remembers communist Russia and said it's happening all over again. She said she's worried about her parents who are still there.
"My family was persecuted — sent to Siberia during Soviet times," Ivaniv said. "And now, it's coming back. It makes me tearful. I hope it will stop, I don't know how."
Many protestors question the reasons President Vladimir Putin has given to go to war. They're worried that electricity will be cut and that they'll lose contact with their loved ones.
"They are saying they will cut electricity soon. They're planning to cut it," said Sasha Erol, who moved to the U.S. with her husband two years ago. "We need to spread love, not war. Russians should understand this."
