Zelensky accuses German chancellor of opening ‘Pandora’s box’ with Russia’s Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized a call between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin as opening a “Pandora’s box” that only works to undermine efforts to isolate the country. This is exactly what Putin has been wanting for a long time. It is extremely important to weaken Russia’s isolation, and normal negotiations will not end in anything.

The conversation on Friday was the first time Scholz had spoken with Putin in two years. It comes as Scholz gears up for a snap election and Europe waits to hear United States President-elect Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war in Ukraine. On the call, Scholz urged Putin to pull his forces out of Ukraine and begin talks with Kyiv that would open the way for a “just and lasting peace”.

The Kremlin said the conversation had come at Berlin’s request, and that Putin had told Scholz any agreement to end the war in Ukraine must take Russian security interests into account and reflect “new territorial realities”. Zelensky and other European officials had cautioned Scholz against the move. Facing a snap election on February 23rd 2025, Scholz’s Social Democrats are coming under pressure from Russia-friendly populist parties on both sides of the political spectrum that argue the government has not deployed enough diplomacy to end the war.

Scholz urged Russia to show willingness to enter talks with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace.

Scholz stressed Germany’s unbroken determination to back Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression for as long as necessary. Ukraine said however that phone conversations with Putin brought no added value on the path to achieving a “just peace” in Ukraine. The call made it possible for Russia to change nothing in its policy, to do nothing in essence, and this is exactly what led to this war.

The call comes in the week after Trump was elected as the next United States president. It sends a bad signal especially after Trump’s election. The Kremlin said Putin had told Scholz Russia was willing to look at energy deals if Germany was interested. Germany was heavily reliant on Russian gas before the war but direct shipments ceased when pipelines under the Baltic Sea were blown up in 2022.

Scholz plans to brief Zelensky, Germany’s allies, partners and the heads of the European Union and NATO on the outcome of Friday’s call. Putin and Scholz agreed to stay in contact. Ukraine is facing increasingly difficult conditions on the frontlines in its east amid shortages of arms and personnel, while Russian forces make steady advances. Scholz had told Putin the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia for combat missions against Ukraine was seen as a serious escalation and expansion of the conflict.

Zelensky says North Korea has 11,000 troops in Russia and that some have suffered casualties in combat with Ukrainian forces which are currently occupying territory in southern Kursk region.

Germany has given Ukraine a total of 15 billion euros in financial, humanitarian, and military support since the start of the full-scale war, making it Kyiv’s second-largest backer after the United States. The future of United States aid to Ukraine is unclear following Trump’s election victory. Scholz and Putin last spoke in December 2022, 10 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, plunging relations with the West into their deepest freeze since the Cold War.