German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's one-way call to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ended nearly two years of isolation of the Kremlin chief by key NATO leaders.
This was extremely bad news for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, because within 72 hours, the White House finally granted his request, allowing the use of American atacms long-range weapons on Russian territory. Zelensky was angry that this call opened "Pandora's box".
He said: "It is extremely important for Putin to weaken his isolation."
A few hours later, Zelensky appeared to acknowledge the trend of the talks, saying that when US President-elect Donald Trump comes to power, "the war will end sooner", as it was a promise Trump made to his voters.
Scholz said that his phone conversation with Putin showed that the Russian leader's hard line on Ukraine has not changed, but added that it is important for Europe to talk to Putin because Trump is going to do the same, marking the one-hour conversation as a return to diplomacy :
