Russia can only break free from Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian grip if Ukraine is saved from his all-out invasion, exiled Russian opposition leaders told the European Parliament on Thursday.

“If you want to help the democratic movement in Russia, please save Ukraine from Putin!” opposition politician and former political prisoner Ilya Yashin urged EU lawmakers at a session in Brussels.

“Putin’s victory in Ukraine would only strengthen his regime, make him more aggressive and angrier,” Yashin warned. “It would create additional danger for Europe … he will not be satisfied with just having Ukraine.”

Yashin was joined in Brussels by Yulia Navalnaya — the widow of Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison in 2024 — and Russian-British journalist and former political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza. Together, they urged the EU to increase support for Ukraine and deepen collaboration with the Russian opposition.

The relationship between Ukraine and the Russian opposition has often been strained over the years. Ukraine has previously accused some opposition figures, including members of Navalny’s circle, of echoing Putin’s imperialist views — particularly by hesitating to fully condemn Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, some members of the Russian opposition have adopted a clearer and stronger position in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“Putin puts in prison, tortures, kills political opponents … inflates neighboring countries, commits horrible crimes and walks free,” Navalnaya told members of the European Parliament. “Why have we failed to put a stop to his activities? Why have you failed? I think it’s because we have not joined our efforts yet,” she said.

She stressed that the Russian president’s aggression was never going to stop at Ukraine. “If he hadn’t invaded Ukraine, it would have been another neighboring country. As long as a dictator remains in power, it will never stop,” she said.

Navalnaya was sentenced in absentia by a Russian court in July 2024 for alleged involvement in an “extremist” organization — charges tied to her work with her late husband’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which Russian authorities outlawed in 2021. She now lives in exile and faces arrest if she returns to Russia.

Yashin and Kara-Murza were among 16 political prisoners freed in a complex exchange brokered under the administration of then-U.S. President Joe Biden in August last year.

“We managed to save 16 innocent victims from Putin’s gulag — two of whom are speaking here today,” Navalnaya said. “Much of the effort came from the previous U.S. administration, the new U.S. administration has other priorities … but it’s their right after all,” she added, hinting at President Donald Trump’s softer stance toward the Kremlin.

Indeed, Trump’s approach to Putin has sharply diverged from that of his predecessor.

Trump has blamed Kyiv for starting the war with Russia and said that he understood Moscow’s concerns over Ukraine’s possible NATO accession. He has also suggested that the U.S. could consider recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and has called for “resetting” relations with Moscow.

On Wednesday, Trump said he had a “good conversation” over the phone with the Russian leader but, he said, not one that would lead to peace.

According to Kara-Murza, such rhetoric undermines efforts to oppose Putin’s regime. He said the world can’t count on the current U.S. administration to bring forward any negotiations that would release current prisoners of the Russian regime.

“Too often we hear polarized narratives — from Washington to Budapest: ‘Let’s just reset and normalize out relations, let’s make concessions and go back to business as usual.’ I hope that any politician who wants to shake Putin’s hand understands that that hand is soaked in blood” he said.

“When evil is not publicly condemned, it will return, and this is what happened in Russia in the 1990s,” Kara-Murza said. “There was never any accountability.”

Navalnaya called on Europe to step into the void left by shifting U.S. priorities. “We need to fill this vacuum,” she urged. “And here we have a wonderful opportunity for Europe to show that it can be a leader and can be saving political prisoners from Putin.”