Scholz urges ceasefire as Putin accuses Kyiv of ‘unrealistic proposals’

Berlin, Mar 18 (EFE).- German chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday urged Russian president Vladimir Putin to order an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a German government spokesman said.

In a nearly one-hour long phone conversation, the two leaders discussed the ongoing war in Ukraine and efforts to end the conflict.

Scholz said the humanitarian situation in Ukraine must be improved and urged Putin to find a diplomatic solution “as soon as possible”.

But Putin told Scholz that Kyiv was trying to hamper negotiations with “new unrealistic proposals” to end what he has called a “special military operation” in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

The Kremlin leader also said Ukraine was responsible for the bombings of residential neighborhoods in eastern cities of Donetsk and Makyeevka and that these war crimes have been “ignored by the West”.

The conversation between the two leaders was “quite complex but absolutely pragmatic,” according to the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Putin and Scholz last spoke on the phone on March 11 in a conversation which also included French president Emmanuel Macron. EFE

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