German Chancellor urged Vladimir Putin to withdraw troops and negotiate with kyiv

The Kremlin, for its part, spoke of “a detailed and frank exchange of points of view” on the conflict.

They hadn't called each other for two years. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine and negotiate with kyiv, during a telephone interview, according to a press release Friday, November 15 from the German government.

The German leader called on Russia to show “desire to begin negotiations with Ukraine with a view to a just and lasting peace”. He emphasized “the EU's unwavering commitment to Ukraine”adds the chancellery. The latter specifies that Olaf Scholz had previously spoken with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The two heads of state had “un detailed and frank exchange of views“, “on the initiative” of Berlin, on the conflict in Ukraine, for its part assured the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin assured Olaf Scholz that a peace agreement with Ukraine should take into account the “new territorial realities”thus calling for concessions from kyiv on the regions currently occupied by the Russian army. This is the first telephone interview in two years between the two men.