German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to order a halt to Moscow's attack on Ukraine so as to allow for a diplomatic solution to be reached while also avoiding a humanitarian catastrophe.
Scholz's office said in a statement on March 18 that the two leaders spoke for almost an hour on the "ongoing war in Ukraine and efforts to end it."
It gave no further details, but the Kremlin said in a separate statement that "the Russian side is ready to continue the search for solutions in line with its well-known principled approaches."
Moscow's unprovoked attack on Ukraine has seen more that 187,000 people flee to Germany since the invasion began on February 24, according to the Interior Ministry in Berlin, though experts say the number is probably much higher since more than 2 million refugees have entered neighboring Poland, many of whom likely continued on to Germany.
Both Poland and Germany are part of the Schengen area, meaning there are no controls at their borders to monitor those entering the country.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists in Moscow that Putin is expected to hold a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron later on March 18.
