If Putin remains Russia’s president, Ukrainians should expect more wars - Portnikov

He shared this view during an online discussion titled "Media Freedom during Russia's aggression against Ukraine", which was part of the international conference "After the War: Rethinking the Future of Civil Society".

"We must realize that if Vladimir Putin stays Russia's president, no truce will mean the end of the war, even if it ends in the minds of many of our compatriots. We will be forced, well, at least sober-minded people will, to live in anticipation of a new war. Russia against Ukraine. Probably until Ukraine becomes a NATO member. This is only the first, hot phase, of war. There may be new hot conflicts in the future. This is reality in which most Ukrainians will have to live most of their lives," Portnikov said.

He added that he still hopes that the meeting of defense ministers from Ukraine's allies to be held in Germany will create the conditions for Ukraine's accession to NATO as soon as possible, and that this difficult page in Ukraine’s history will come to a close.