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fullscreen German Chancellor Olaf Scholz picked up the phone on Friday and spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the first time in almost two years. Archive image. Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP/TT
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lashed out at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz after his phone call with Vladimir Putin. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk echoes the criticism.
Now Scholz defends himself and says that “Ukraine can count on us”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has compared Scholz’s phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to opening “Pandora’s box”.
German opposition CDU foreign policy spokesman Jürgen Hardt lashed out at Social Democrat Scholz on Saturday, accusing him of helping Putin make a “propaganda win” for German domestic political reasons.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk joins the chorus of critics on Sunday.
“No one will stop Putin with phone calls. The attack last night, one of the biggest in this war, has shown that telephone diplomacy cannot replace real support from the whole West for Ukraine,” Tusk writes on X, referring to Russia’s attack on Kiev.
But Olaf Scholz says that “no decision will be made behind Ukraine’s back”, and that “Ukraine can count on us”.
– It was important to tell him (Putin) that he must not expect that the support of Germany, Europe and many other countries for Ukraine will weaken, says Scholz at the Berlin airport on Sunday.
The chancellor goes on to say that his conversation with Putin allowed him to “note that the Russian president has not changed his mind very much about this war, which is not good news.”