Scholz vows continued calls to Putin

Olaf Scholz told the German Tagesspiegel, Welt reports.

"I will also speak to Putin on the phone again, because we need to talk to each other. It is Putin who must withdraw his troops from Ukraine and end this terrible, senseless war," he said.

The German Chancellor added that until the Russian Federation stops its armed aggression, the current situation will not change. Although the phone conversations with Vladimir Putin "were not impolite in tone," the Russian dictator has made it clear over and over again that he wants to "incorporate parts of his neighboring country by force," and this is "unacceptable."

"Sometimes we also discussed specific issues of prisoner exchange, grain exports from Ukraine and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, but it is important for me that the talks always return to the actual topic: how does the world get out of this terrible situation? The prerequisite for this is obvious: the withdrawal of Russian troops," Olaf Scholz emphasized.

 A day earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would continue to talk to Russia despite the criticism it provokes.