German Chancellor Scholz says he plans to talk to Putin soon

FRANKFURT, June 10 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday he plans to speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon to urge him to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine.

Addressing a conference of the German Protestant church in Nuremberg, Scholz said he had spoken to Putin by phone in the past.

“I plan to do it again soon. It doesn’t make sense to force Ukraine to approve and accept the invasion that Putin carried out and that parts of Ukraine are becoming Russian just like that,” he said, adding that he would work to ensure that NATO does not get carried away at the war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS news agency that no talks with Soltz are currently scheduled on Putin’s schedule.

Moscow and Kiev reported heavy fighting in Ukraine on Friday, but it remained unclear whether Ukraine’s long-awaited full-scale counteroffensive was underway.

The counteroffensive aimed at penetrating Russian defenses and driving out the occupation forces is expected to eventually involve thousands of Ukrainian troops trained and equipped by Western countries, including Germany.

Russia fired missiles and drones at targets across Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday, killing three civilians in the Black Sea city of Odessa and hitting a military airfield in the central Poltava region, Kiev authorities said.

Report by Andreas Rinke. Ludwig Burger writes. Edited by Helen Popper and Mike Harrison

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