Ukrainian hoping for sanctions, not war

PHOENIX — Ukrainian delegates were at the East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa Monday discussing legislative and education issues.

Of course, the conflict in the Ukraine remained center stage.

“There have never been any persecutions of Russians in Crimea,” said Olha Strelyuk, head of Educational Programs National NGO for the city of Lviv, Ukraine.

It’s all political, she said. Putin has inflated the issue for his own goals. She also said some Ukrainians feel it’s a call to arms, but she hopes for increased sanctions from the European Union and the U.S. instead of war.

“My friend was killed there in the streets of Kiev,” she said through a translator. “The human sacrifice is too big.”