Scholz, Zelenskyy: Settlement Needs An End To War & Russian Withdrawal

Alexander von Nahmen at Deutsche Welle tweets: "Scholz and Zelenskyy talked on the phone again today. They agreed "that a diplomatic negotiated settlement between Ukraine and Russia would require an immediate end to hostilities on the part of Russia and a withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine," per statement."

• Following talk, Zelenskyy tweets:"Constructive talk with the German Chancellor. We talked about the situation on the border, more pressure on Russia, the increase in sanctions, hopes for peace... I appreciate the German support, especially in terms of defence. We expect more German support for Ukraine to become a member of the European Union,"
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz seemingly moving away from the potential view of Ukraine and Russia negotiating on a peace settlement while Russian forces remain the the Donbas. Scholz and his Social Democrats have suffered defeats in recent state elections, which some observers have attributed to perceptions of a weak stance on Ukraine compared to coalition allies. These sort of comments could be efforts to ward off such criticism.