Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized a phone call between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it opened “Pandora’s Box”.

Friday night’s call was the pair’s first since December 2022, 10 months after Russia’s land, air and sea invasion of its neighbor on February 24 that year.

In his evening speech, Mr. Zelenskywhich relied heavily on EU and US support to avoid what Mr. Putin called a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine, said the conversation between the two leaders undermined efforts to isolate the Russian leader.

“Now there could be other conversations, other calls. Just a lot of words,” Mr Zelenskyy said.

“And this is exactly what Putin has wanted for a long time: it is extremely important for him to loosen his isolation.”

The call between Mr. Scholzwhose Social Democratic party faces snap elections in February, and Putin lasted about an hour, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.

In a statement, Mr Hebestreit said Scholz condemned Russia’s “war of aggression” during the conversation, calling on Putin to end it by withdrawing troops.

“The chancellor urged Russia to be willing to negotiate with Ukraine in order to achieve a just and lasting peace and underlined Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression for as long as necessary,” the spokesman said.

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Following the call, the Kremlin said Putin told the German chancellor that any deal to end the war in Ukraine would have to reflect “new territorial realities.” He added that any deal would have to recognize Russia’s security demands, including for Kiev to opt out of membership. nato.

But with the conflict reaching its 1,000th day next week, Mr Zelenskyi said late on Friday that there would be “no new Minsk Agreement” (two ceasefire/peace agreements, both parties agreed to support them in 2014 and again in 2015), Ukraine wanting “fair”. peace”.

German officials said Putin and Scholz agreed to stay in touch following the call, which the Kremlin said came at Berlin’s request.

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It comes amid widespread speculation about re-election Donald Trump as the US president will mean for Ukraine, as the president-elect has repeatedly questioned the value of aid to Kiev.

During his campaign to win a second term, Trump repeatedly said he could bring peace to Ukraine within 24 hours, but has yet to offer much information on how he would try to achieve that.