German chancellor spoke with Volodomyr Zelenskiy before his conversation with the Russian president

German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and Russian president, Vladimir Putin, held a rare phone call on Friday, in which the German leader urged his Russian counterpart to withdraw troops and negotiate with Ukraine to achieve a just and lasting peace.

The one-hour phone call, the first between the two leaders since December 2022, came after Putin reportedly spoke with the US president-elect, Donald Trump, with the incoming US administration vowing to push for a swift end to the war in Ukraine.