German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his conversation with Vladimir Putin on Friday had given no indication of a shift in the Russian President's thinking on the war in Ukraine but defended his much-criticised decision to phone the Kremlin.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday defended a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that came in for sharp criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "It was important to say as well that he (Putin) should not count on the support for Ukraine of Germany,

Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for the first time in nearly two years as the German leader gears up for a snap election and Europe waits to hear Donald Trump's plan for ending the war in Ukraine.