Devastated, tragic, and unjust, were just some of the words Santa Cruz county locals used to
describe their thoughts on Russia invading Ukraine.
“Seeing the Ukrainian people get hurt and their homes getting destroyed has made me feel
devastated,” said Angelique Gularte, 20, cook for Camonas.
Tamia Smith, 23, instructional aid for the Santa Cruz County Office of Education agreed with
Angelique saying that “Russia is wrong in all aspects; Ukraine is a sovereign country,”
Because of the sanctions put on Russia, the value of the ruble has gone down tremendously.
Isaac Santillian, 20, a graduate of Soquel High School who is currently attending UC Berkeley as
a computer science major, said that “Russia [messed up] on invading Ukraine because The United States and over 30 other countries have sanctions against Russia which will ultimately
weaken their economy.” He also said he thought these sanctions, along with the violence and
death that came with war, will “deplete the Russian people’s overall morale.”
Locals agreed that American aid is needed. Some say that the U.S needs to do more to support
the Ukrainians, while others are cautious about what may happen if the U.S gives too much aid.
“I am worried that the U.S providing too much help would increase the tensions between us and
Russia,” said Skylar Drumming, 20, majoring in system administration at Cabrillo College.
Katie Cashent, 43, majoring in pre-nursing at Cabrillo, said that she doesn’t “know if we could
do more without getting ourselves in a World War 3 situation.”
When asked who they thought would have handled Russia invading Ukraine better, current
President Biden or ex-President Trump, many people had mixed reactions.
“Biden is doing the best he can. Trump would have not done better because he was Putin’s
puppet,” said Smith.
Cashent said she felt grateful that Biden was in the office at this time due to his extensive
experience in international foreign policies. Santillian and Gularte both felt that Biden and Trump
would have handled the situation similarly. While Drumming said he felt that “Biden is handling it
the best he can, but that’s not saying much.”
