German chancellor spoke with Volodomyr Zelenskiy before his conversation with the Russian president

Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin held a rare phone call on Friday in which the German leader urged his Russian counterpart to withdraw troops from Ukraine and negotiate with Kyiv to achieve a just and lasting peace.

The one-hour phone call, the first between the two leaders since December 2022, came after Putin reportedly spoke with the US president-elect, Donald Trump, whose incoming administration has vowed to push for a swift end to the war in Ukraine.