Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Russian human rights activist Irina Sherbakova says there is only one possible end to the war in Ukraine.
"I am convinced that this war can only end with a victory for Ukraine," the historian said on Sunday in a speech on democracy in the German city of Leipzig.
Only this would bring peace back to Europe, said Sherbakova, the co-founder of the human rights organisation Memorial, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
"We receive the prize with a heavy heart, because one has to admit that we have not achieved our goal - to come to terms with the crimes of the Soviet state so that they do not happen again," said Sherbakova.
"We now have to reflect on why our voices were too weak, why Russian society did not want to listen to us when we spoke of crimes and atrocities," Sherbakova said.
Now, as in Soviet times, atrocities are once again being carried out - in Bucha, Izyum and other Ukrainian places, she said.
When Putin came to power in Russia, he quickly abolished democracy and at least severely restricted civil liberties, Sherbakova said. Now Putin wants military control over Ukraine - and he is prepared to make any sacrifice to achieve this.
The Nobel Peace Prize was also a recognition and commemoration of millions of victims of state terror, she said. "And this struggle for human beings is more important today than it was before."
The organisation Memorial, which has since been dissolved in Russia, had been awarded the prize together with Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski and Ukraine's Centre for Civil Liberties.
