A German government spokesman said Chancellor Olaf Scholz held direct telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and Russia’s willingness to negotiate a just and lasting peace.

A statement from German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Scholz condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and called on Putin to end it and withdraw troops.

The statement said the chancellor reaffirmed Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression for as long as necessary. The brief statement did not include a response from Putin.

The spokesman said Scholz had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before his phone call with the Russian leader and that he planned to call him again afterwards. Media reports say the conversation lasted about an hour.

Reuters news agency reported that the Kremlin confirmed the call, which it said came at Berlin’s request. The news agency reported that the Kremlin said Putin told Scholz that any agreement to end the war in Ukraine must take into account Russian security interests and reflect the “new territorial reality.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that despite major differences, the fact that the two leaders had received the call at all was “very positive.”

Zelenskyy, however, was not too pleased with the call. In a video address posted on his website on Friday, Zelenskyy said the call is, in his view, a “Pandora’s box.”

“This is exactly what Putin has wanted for a long time: it is crucial for him to weaken his isolation. The isolation of Russia,” Zelenskiy said. “And to enter into negotiations, ordinary negotiations, that will lead to nothing.”

He said this is what Putin has been doing for decades. “This allowed Russia to not change its policies, not do anything substantive, and ultimately it led to this war.”

Zelensky said Ukraine understands how to act towards Putin and how to handle negotiations accordingly.

“And we want to warn everyone: there will be no Minsk-3,” he said, referring to the Minsk Accords, two failed ceasefire deals between Kiev and Moscow over the status of the eastern Donbas region. “What we need is real peace.”

The call came about a week after Scholz’s coalition government collapsed and he faces new elections early next year.

Also on Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a state radio interview that the European Union must abandon its sanctions on Russia or the economy will collapse.

The EU and its Western partners have imposed numerous sanctions against Russia and Putin since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many of which target Russia’s energy sector.

Orban, a close ally of Putin, said in the interview that sanctions on Russia have driven up energy prices and should be reviewed by EU leaders in Brussels. He said the sanctions have failed and that as long as they are in place, energy prices will not fall and this will destroy the European economy.

Orban also referred to the victory of new US President Donald Trump last week. Referring to Trump as “our brother in arms” and “our fellow peacekeeper,” he said his victory means changing minds in Brussels – the location of the EU headquarters.

Orban said they must push for a “pro-peace” turn in the EU, referring to their support for Ukraine.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.