German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed the possibility of reaching peace in Ukraine if Russia ends its war there and withdraws its forces.

Scholz said in an interview with the German newspaper "Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung" published today, Thursday: "There have always been mediation initiatives, for example Russia and Ukraine negotiated directly with each other shortly after the outbreak of the war, and the talks failed at that time because Russia only used them as a pretext to move its forces simultaneously to the east to launch a major attack, then the massacres of Bucha and Irpin occurred, which are unbelievable crimes against human rights committed by the Russian armed forces against the civilian population, and this removed any basis for conducting talks."

Scholz mentioned that a number of countries, including Ukraine, are currently discussing at the level of security advisers the possible ways for a peace process, and said: "But let me clarify one thing: peace is possible at any time, and Putin only needs to stop his barbaric campaign and withdraw his forces."

Scholz pointed out that the last phone call he made with Russian President Vladimir Putin was in December 2022.

He said: "Before that, we talked a lot, a few days before the war we had a long personal conversation in Moscow, do you remember the long table where I had to sit with him because he was worried about Corona? We then talked for more than 4 hours."

In response to a question about whether German intelligence was aware of the attack plans in Moscow, from which the Americans warned Russia, Scholz said: "No, but maybe the American intelligence had information, part of the US government's policy is to warn other countries when they receive such information, they even issued a public warning, and unfortunately this horrific terrorist attack happened nonetheless.