The hour-long call was initiated by Germany, according to the Kremlin. Scholz's office said the chancellor urged Putin to withdraw Russian forces and end the full-scale invasion begun in February 2022. He also called on Russia to negotiate with Ukraine toward what Berlin described as a just and durable peace, while reiterating Germany's commitment to support Kyiv.
Scholz condemned Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. He also warned that the reported deployment of North Korean troops to Russia would represent a serious escalation. The United States, South Korea and Ukraine had said North Korea sent thousands of troops to assist Russia's war effort.
Moscow presented a sharply different framework. A Kremlin account said Putin remained open to talks but insisted that any agreement reflect Russia's security interests and what it called the new territorial realities. He pointed to conditions announced in June, including Ukraine abandoning its effort to join NATO and withdrawing from four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claimed to annex in 2022.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov characterized the exchange as detailed and frank but said it did not produce a convergence of views. The leaders agreed to remain in contact, and their conversation also covered the Middle East, according to the Russian statement. Putin additionally pointed to what Moscow regarded as a severe deterioration in German-Russian relations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Scholz's decision to call. He argued that renewed leader-level conversations could reduce Putin's diplomatic isolation without producing substantive results. Ukraine had repeatedly ruled out surrendering territory to Russia as the price of peace.
The contact came days before the conflict reached 1,000 days and amid uncertainty over future US support following Donald Trump's presidential election victory. Trump had questioned the scale of American aid to Ukraine and claimed he could settle the conflict quickly, adding to European debate about the war's trajectory.
Scholz was also navigating political instability at home. He had called for a confidence vote the following month, with an early German election expected in February. Despite that domestic pressure, Berlin's public account paired the outreach to Putin with continued backing for Ukraine.
The call restored a channel between the two leaders but did not signal a negotiated breakthrough. Their governments' own descriptions instead showed that Russia's territorial demands and Ukraine's insistence on sovereignty remained fundamental obstacles.
