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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in nearly two years, as western powers position for the return of a Trump administration that has made ending the Ukraine war a priority.
Scholz’s spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said that in a phone call on Friday the German leader “condemned the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and called on President Putin to end it and withdraw his troops”.
He added that the chancellor also stressed Germany’s “steadfast determination” to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression “as long as is necessary”.
Officials said Scholz and Putin had “agreed to remain in contact”.
The call took place at a critical time for Ukraine, with Russian troops intensifying their attacks and advancing into Ukrainian territory at a faster rate than at any point since 2022.
Trump’s victory in last week’s US presidential election has also raised doubts about future US aid to Kyiv. The president-elect promised before the November 5 poll to broker a “fair and rapid deal” to end the war.
A recent book by veteran reporter Bob Woodward added that Trump had as many as seven conversations with Putin after his previous term ended in 2021.
The conversation also came at a difficult time for Scholz, who last week pulled the plug on his coalition government, paving the way for snap elections on February 23. Current polls suggest his Social Democrats (SPD) are heading for a heavy defeat.
Scholz has in recent months pushed for another Ukraine peace conference, which ideally Russia would attend. This would follow the conference held in Switzerland last summer, at which Russia was not present.
The German leader’s last physical meeting with Putin was in Moscow just a few days before he unleashed his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
But in recent days Scholz stressed that he was ready to talk to Putin, and was waiting for the right moment.
Berlin said Scholz telephoned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before Friday’s call and would do so again after it.
Officials said that in his conversation with Putin, Scholz condemned in particular the Russian air attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, saying the war had brought “death, suffering and destruction to Ukraine for almost 1,000 days”.
They said he also made clear that the deployment of North Korean soldiers on combat missions in Russia represented a “serious escalation and expansion of the conflict”.
The officials said Scholz had stressed the “long-term nature” of Germany’s support for Ukraine and had told Putin he “can’t count on time being on his side”.
Berlin will inform its allies and partners as well as the leaders of the EU and Nato about the content of the conversation, government sources said.
Germany is the second-largest provider of military aid to Ukraine after the US, having donated nearly €30bn to the country since the start of the war.
Just last month Scholz pledged an additional €1.4bn in military aid to Ukraine by the end of the year. The package, offered jointly with Belgium, Denmark and Norway, includes Iris-T air defence systems as well as tanks, armoured vehicles, combat drones, radar systems and artillery munition.
However, Scholz has rejected Ukrainian demands to supply German Taurus cruise missiles, which have a range of up to 500km, saying such a move could lead to Germany becoming a party to the war.
Many in Scholz’s SPD are also worried about the growing evidence of war-weariness among German voters. The far-right Alternative for Germany and leftist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, which both demand an immediate stop to German weapons supplies to Ukraine and talks to end the war, have seen their support surge in recent months.