Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies on Saturday reiterated a pledge to keep imposing severe costs on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, through sanctions, export controls and other measures,

In the first phone call between the leaders in nearly two years, Scholz called on Putin to end the war and pull Russian troops out of Ukraine. The Kremlin described the conversation as "a detailed and frank exchange of opinions on the situation in Ukraine”,

Ukraine blasted Olaf Scholz’s telephone diplomacy with Vladimir Putin, as many of Kyiv’s allies took a dim view of the German chancellor’s phone call with the Russian president.