President Obama’s speech at the Cleveland Convention Center Wednesday drew about 50 protestors, most of whom want him to take action on the situation in the Ukraine.
Cleveland’s Ukrainian population numbers about 65,000 people, and the ones who turned out across from the Convention Center want the president to send food, medical supplies and weapons to their homeland.
Pavlo Karpin is president of the Ukrainian group, the Cleveland Maidan Association. He says the time for diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is over.
“What happens if he gets to Poland? What happens if he gets to Germany? We understand the position of the American people: you do not want to put your own citizens on the ground. That’s not what Ukraine is asking.”
Earlier in the day, Putin told supporters that Russia’s annexation of the Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula was a move to regain the nation’s “historic roots.”