A small contingent of
Ukrainian protesters gathered outside the Russian Embassy in Wellington
this afternoon to voice their concerns over the escalating situation in
their country.
Around a dozen people sang their national anthem,
held signs and the Ukrainian flag calling on the Kremlin to vacate
Ukrainian territory.
Ukrainian expat Serge Vorobey says the Ukranian and
Russian community in New Zealand "don't know what to make" of the
situation in their respective homelands.
"Never in my life did I imagine there'd be any
bloodshed. We've had such a brilliant record of peaceful protest to
change the Government's view previously," he says.
The prospect of a country
on the brink of war was something Mr Vorobey would have "laughed off"
last week and would be the "least likely" person to protest.
"To see my country and my people to be divided and shared like pieces of a pie, I find it hard."
US
Secretary of State John Kerry has called Russia's incursion into
Ukraine "an incredible act of aggression" – though the Russian takeover
of the Black Sea peninsula was achieved without a shot being fired.
Meanwhile,
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully has called the developments in
Ukraine "deeply worrying" and the country's sovereignty should be
respected.
3 News
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