Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Germany and France against further arms deliveries to Ukraine on Saturday. In a telephone conversation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin boss said, according to Russian sources, that further arms deliveries were “dangerous”. As a result, there is a risk that “the situation in Ukraine will continue to destabilize and the humanitarian crisis will worsen”.

According to the federal government, the telephone call lasted 80 minutes and was made by Scholz and Macron. The Chancellor and the French President had urged “an immediate armistice and a withdrawal of Russian troops”.

According to government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, they also called on the Russian president to conduct “serious direct negotiations” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.