Ukraine Russia Conflict: Putin and Scholz discuss Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed Ukraine in a telephone call on Friday, the Kremlin said.

Putin told Scholz that progress in negotiations over an end to the conflict had been “essentially blocked by Kyiv”, but that the two sides were continuing talks on various levels.

Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched its invasion of Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, Ukraine claimed it had damaged and set on fire a Russian navy logistics ship in the Black Sea. The Vsevolod Bobrov was near Snake Island, said Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration in southern Ukraine. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said “very difficult negotiations” were ongoing to evacuate 38 seriously wounded fighters from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, in exchange for Russian prisoners of war. However, The UN’s human rights council has passed a resolution to investigate alleged abuses by Russian troops in parts of Ukraine formerly under their control, with a view to holding those responsible to account.