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

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

In his evening speech, Mr. Zelenskywhich relied heavily on support from the EU and US to push back against what happened. Mr. Putin called a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarizing 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. Zelensky said.

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

The call comes in Mr Scholzwhose Social Democratic Party faces snap elections in February, and Mr. Putin held on for about an hour, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.

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

“The Chancellor urged Russia to be ready to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace and underlined Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression as long as necessary,” the spokesperson said.

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Following the call, the Kremlin said Mr Putin had told the German chancellor that any agreement to end the war in Ukraine should reflect “new territorial realities”. He added that any agreement would have to take into account Russia’s security demands, including that kyiv renounce its membership. NATO.

But as the conflict reaches its 1,000th day next week, Mr. Zelensky said Friday evening that there would be “no new Minsk agreement” (two ceasefire/peace agreements that the two parties accepted in 2014 and again in 2015), with Ukraine wanting “a fair deal”. peace”.

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

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This comes amid widespread speculation about what the re-election of Donald Trump what the US president will mean for Ukraine, since the president-elect has repeatedly questioned the amount of aid provided to kyiv.

During his election campaign to win a second term, Mr. Trump has 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 this.