Members of Ukrainian San Antonio demonstrated in Main Plaza on a rainy, chilly Thursday to call on world leaders to do more to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Anna Stamps, who has been in the U.S. for 16 years, said sanctions are not enough to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I think sanctions are good, but something more strategic, military steps need to be done. Putin needs to get message that Ukraine is not by itself and it cannot just be thrown to the ground whenever he feels like," she said, as she stood below San Fernando Cathedral, dressed in traditional Ukrainian headwear or wreath made of flowers.
Irene Van Winkle, whose parents were Ukrainian, is disappointed with NATO's military response.
"There circling everything, all the other countries around Ukraine, but not going into the country where the fighting is actually happening. Isn't that ironic?" Van Winkle said.
Members of Ukrainian San Antonio said they are a sizable, close-knit group who offer support to one another.
Stamps said Putin may not stop with Ukraine and seize other countries that once made up the Soviet Union.
"He's going back in history and trying to build something that was broken years ago and people trying to be independent and make their own history," Stamps said.
Van Winkle agreed.
"He wants the glory of Mother Russia to come back and the Russian Empire, all those little satellite countries. Everybody else and they're all in that whole area. Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia was all part of that," she said.
Many of the demonstrators were wrapped in or carried the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag and called for Americans to think of and pray for Ukraine.
