Scholz’s phone conversation with Putin opens “Pandora’s box”, says Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticized a phone call between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it has opened a “Pandora’s box”.

Friday night’s call was the pair’s first since December 2022, 10 months after Russia’s land, air and sea invasion of its neighbor on February 24 of that year.

In his evening speech, Mr. Zelenskyywhich has relied heavily on EU and US support to fend off what Mr. Putin has labeled a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine, said the conversation between the two leaders undermined efforts to isolate the Russian leader.

“Now there can be other talks, other talks. Just a lot of words,” Zelenskyy said.

“And this is exactly what Putin has long wanted: It is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation.”

The conversation between Mr. Scholzwhose Social Democratic Party faces a snap election in February, and Putin lasted about an hour, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.

In a statement, Hebestreit said Scholz condemned “Russia’s war of aggression” during the call and urged Putin to end it by withdrawing troops.

“The chancellor urged Russia to be willing to negotiate with Ukraine with a view to achieving a just and lasting peace and emphasized Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression for as long as necessary,” the spokesman said.

After the call, the Kremlin said Putin had told the German chancellor that any deal to end the war in Ukraine should reflect “new territorial realities.” He added that any agreement should recognize Russia’s security demands, including that Kiev refrain from joining NATO.

But as the conflict reaches its 1,000th day next week, Zelenskyy said on Friday night that there will be “no new Minsk agreements” (two ceasefire/peace agreements agreed by both sides in 2014 and again in 2015) with Ukraine wanting “justice peace”.

The conversation is fascinating in its timing – and can have multiple motives

They haven’t spoken in almost two years – so today’s conversation between the German chancellor and Vladimir Putin is fascinating in its timing.

Shortly after the pair hung up, lines from the German camp quickly underlined that Olaf Scholz had condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called on Putin to withdraw troops and end the fighting.

“The chancellor urged Russia’s willingness to negotiate with Ukraine in order to achieve a just and lasting peace and emphasized Germany’s unwavering determination to keep Ukraine in the peace process,” a government spokesman said in a statement confirming the call.

The conversation between the two leaders lasted about an hour, with Scholz also condemning the Russian airstrikes against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and saying that the deployment of North Korean soldiers to fight in Ukraine would lead to a serious escalation of the conflict.

Read the rest of Siobhan’s analysis

German officials said Putin and Scholz agreed to stay in touch after the call, which the Kremlin said came at the request of Berlin.

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It comes amid widespread speculation about what the re-election of Donald Trump that the US president will mean for Ukraine, as the president-elect has repeatedly questioned the amount of aid given to Kiev.

During his campaign to win a second term, Trump repeatedly said he could bring peace to Ukraine within 24 hours, but has yet to provide much detail on how he would try to achieve it.