Scholz and Putin talk about Ukraine, Zelensky is outraged | War in Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky accused Germany of playing into Vladimir Putin’s hands after Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to the Russian president on Friday to discuss conditions for peace in Ukraine, the first meeting in nearly two years between the two leaders .

During the hour-long call, Olaf Scholz asked Russia to show its willingness to begin negotiations with Ukraine with a view to a just and lasting peaceaccording to the German government.

The chancellor reiterated that Moscow must withdraw its troops from Ukraine and end the war.

This exchange provoked the anger of Ukraine, which sees an attempt at appeasement towards Moscow at a time when the Ukrainians are losing ground on the front and fear losing the support of the United States after Donald Trump’s presidential victory.

Talk to Vladimir Putin open Pandora’s boxcastigated Volodymyr Zelensky, who fears being forced into negotiations unfavorable to Ukraine.

During the meeting, Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that any peace agreement should reflect the new territorial realitiesaccording to the Kremlin.

This is the Russian position repeated for months. Russia is open to the idea of ​​peace negotiations, but with concessions on the part of kyiv: the cession of the Ukrainian territories that Moscow annexed in 2022, without completely controlling them. kyiv considers this condition unthinkable.

Angry kyiv

Conversations with the Russian dictator alone do not add value to achieving a just peacecastigated the spokesperson for Ukrainian diplomacy, Georgii Tykhy, calling instead for concrete and strong actions to force Russia into peace.

Olaf Scholz had warned Volodymyr Zelensky of his call to Vladimir Putin. Washington, Paris and London knew the German Chancellor’s intention without, however, the messages having been coordinatedaccording to the entourage of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Mr Scholz will be able to brief in more detail the G20 leaders he is due to meet at the summit on Monday and Tuesday in Brazil. A meeting of several heads of diplomacy of theUE is also scheduled for Tuesday in Warsaw to mark 1000 days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a first comment on Friday, the head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk, welcomed the fact that Olaf Scholz had said that nothing about Ukraine will not happen without Ukraine.

The German Chancellor also reiterated to the Russian leader determination of Germany andUE to support Ukraine as long as necessary.

The last call between the German and Russian leaders dates back to December 2, 2022, some nine months after the start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. It is also the last known telephone exchange between the head of the Kremlin and the leader of a major Western country.

According to the Kremlin, which described the exchange as frank and detailedthe call took place at the initiative of the German side.

Since the Russian invasion, Germany has been the second largest supplier of military aid to kyiv, after the United States. However, despite repeated requests from Volodymyr Zelensky, Chancellor Scholz tirelessly refused to provide long-range Taurus missiles requested by kyiv to better defend itself.

Chancellor criticized by allies

The fear of an escalation with Moscow regularly put forward by the German leader also earns him criticism from some of his European allies, who criticize him for his lack of determination.

Olaf Scholz recently called for increased efforts to end the conflict diplomatically, in consultation with kyiv and that country’s allies.

In mid-October, he judged the time had come to do everything – besides clearly supporting Ukraine – to find a way to prevent this war from continuing.

There will never be decisions taken without Ukraine’s knowledge and never without consultation with our closest partnershowever, he assured.

Military and financial support for kyiv and Germany’s defense policy will be one of the subjects of the electoral campaign which should lead this country to early legislative elections on February 23.