Chancellor Olaf Scholz assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Germany's continued military support in their first official call since Scholz spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for an hour by phone on Friday, the first conversation between the two leaders in nearly two years. Scholz warned Putin that the deployment of North Korean troops for combat in Russia or Ukraine would be a "serious escalation and expansion of the conflict,

This wouldn’t mean ending Ukraine’s claim to land within its internationally recognised borders, instead opting to recover it through diplomatic rather than military means. But Zelenskyy wants something key allies have so far refused to consider – NATO membership,