Summary

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone for the first time since December 2022, with Scholz condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its use of North Korean troops as a “grave escalation.”

Scholz urged Putin to withdraw troops and negotiate a “fair and lasting peace,” emphasizing Germany’s continued support for Ukraine.

Putin blamed NATO’s “aggressive policy” and insisted peace must reflect “new territorial realities” of occupied Ukrainian land.

Amid growing political and economic pressures, Scholz faces criticism over his handling of the war and upcoming elections.

  • MrNesser@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    If Putin is pulling in foreign troops to fight his war then ukraines allies should start shipping troops over.

      • Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca
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        16 days ago

        Do you think that citizens of a nation can’t make any calls on how their professional soldiers are deployed unless they are soldier themselves? What fucking cognitive dissonance is this?

        • Syntha@sh.itjust.works
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          16 days ago

          I think calling for your own men to be thrown into the meat grinder is unacceptable unless you’re willing to lead the charge.

          • Laser@feddit.org
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            16 days ago

            Military deployments aren’t “meat grinders” for your own troops if they’re well-equipped and trained. That’s the whole point of western militaries.

            War is shit. But as an ex-soldier: you know what you sign up for. I also expected it during my service, though it never happened.

            It’s like saying calling firefighters to rescue someone from a burning house is only acceptable if you ran into it first. It makes no sense.

            • Syntha@sh.itjust.works
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              15 days ago

              Ukraine is a meat grinder, it is in no way comparable to invasions such as Iraq or Afghanistan, it would be more like Vietnam.

        • bungalowtill@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          16 days ago

          You are accusing the other guy of cognitive dissonance? Interesting. Anybody who is calling for others to go to war somewhere should be answered with laughter or that statement. And by the way, citizens of a nation don’t decide much about war and peace.

          • Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca
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            16 days ago

            Sure let’s start with the rich fucks in charge of nations who tell soldiers exactly where to go.

        • Syntha@sh.itjust.works
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          16 days ago

          If they want to sign up to fight in Ukraine, they can go and fight in Ukraine. Calling for others to fight in Ukraine is a completely different thing.

          • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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            16 days ago

            If only we could sign up for the military then decide what we do and where we do it for ourselves while we’re there, but that’s not how it works.

    • Crazyblu@lemmy.zip
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      17 days ago

      What a great idea, im shocked no one thought of it sooner, surely it wont create any more escalations

        • Ech@lemm.ee
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          16 days ago

          If we’re trying to avoid WWIII, yes. It sucks and is unfair, but the responsible choice isn’t always the fair choice.

          *Jeez y’all, I’m not saying to just roll over and die here. There are other ways to respond that aren’t “send an international force of soldiers into war, all but guaranteeing worldwide war between nuclear powers”. There’s a necessary calculus here that’s just a few steps above grade school level retribution.

          • Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca
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            16 days ago

            The responsible choice is to not appease. Putin can decide if he wants to escalate against Germany and NATO.

          • LANIK2000@lemmy.world
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            16 days ago

            I’d invite you to finish your thought. Because the logical conclusion of that is giving them everything. That’s the only way to “avoid” WW3 according to that logic. This also happens to be exactly how WW2 started, food for thought.

            I’d also like to draw your attention to the fact that Putin barely reacts to Ukraine gaining ground. Sinking of the Moskva, invading their territory, saying they’ll get nukes one way or another. He’s a coward that only advances when he thinks he can get away with it. It’s why this war even started. He seriously thought it would be a 3 day operation and that everyone would quickly forget about it.

      • Devorlon@lemmy.zip
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        16 days ago

        Ye, we should keep appeasing Putin to avoid further escalations. Cause that worked the last time

      • LANIK2000@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        Putin has only ever escalated when his actions didn’t have any consequences. Notice how he does crazy shit whenever support gets weaker, but when Abrams, ATACMS or F16 arrived, it was met with almost radio silence. Putin is a fucking coward and we need to keep pushing!

        Edit: Oh yea! Also barely reacted to Ukraine saying it wants nukes, be it NATO’s or their own.

      • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
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        17 days ago

        In fact, the “Ukraine war” title doesn’t really do it justice then does it.

        Maybe they should rebrand it, call it a different War, maybe something that reflects the whole World that gets involved. If there’s been a couple before, just stick a number 3 on the end. Sorted.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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          17 days ago

          Can it not end in explosions far bigger than the two explosions that ended the one with the number two please?

          • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
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            17 days ago

            Yeah fingers crossed. I’m rather hopeful it won’t. That would really suck.

            For all my sarcasm around what the war will be referred to in the history books, I’m hoping it will be a footnote in history and not one of the future’s biggest Wikipedia pages like the last one was.