No phone call can stop Russian aggression in Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today - two days after the controversial decision by the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to call Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone, France Press reported.
„No one will stop Putin with phone calls”, Tusk wrote on the social network “X”.
„Last night's (Russian) attack, one of the biggest in this war, proved that telephone diplomacy cannot replace real support for Ukraine from the West as a whole,” he stressed.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, for her part, today called on European leaders to exercise restraint in their relations with Moscow in connection with the war in Ukraine, DPA reported.
„The most important thing is to understand that it cannot come to that - to find ourselves in competition for the Kremlin's attention,” she told German public broadcaster A Air De.
The fact that European leaders are calling Putin, whether in a coordinated or uncoordinated way, will not lead to results, Valtonen stressed.
She added that a coordinated response is needed, not only with the US, but above all with Ukraine.
Before Friday's call with Putin, Scholz had said he would not call Putin on his own initiative and would hold a number of consultations before doing so.
The German chancellor defended his decision today as well, confirming Germany's unwavering support for Ukraine and assuring that no decision on the outcome of the war will be made without Kiev, according to AFP.