German chancellor pleads for cease-fire in call with Putin

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday pleaded with Russian President Vladimir Putin to announce a cease-fire in Ukraine during a phone call between the two, according to a report from Reuters.

A German government spokesperson told the outlet that Scholz spoke with Putin for about an hour and stressed to the Russian president the importance of the humanitarian situation being improved and finding a diplomatic solution.

Putin reportedly told Scholz during the phone call that Ukraine was trying to stall peace talks with Russia and Moscow wanted to continue to negotiate, Reuters reports.

“It was noted that the Kyiv regime is attempting in every possible way to delay the negotiation process, putting forward more and more unrealistic proposals,” Moscow said in a readout of the call, according to Reuters.

“Nonetheless the Russian side is ready to continue searching for a solution in line with its well-known principled approaches.”

Russian Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that Putin’s call with Scholz was “harsh but business-like,” and that Russia was “demonstrating its readiness to work much faster than is being done now.”

“Unfortunately the Ukrainian delegation is not ready to step up the pace of negotiations. But the [negotiation] process continues nonetheless,” Peskov continued, per the outlet.

Ukraine has stated that it is open to negotiations, but will not surrender, nor will it accept any ultimatums from Russia, the outlet reported.