Germany's Scholz says no hope of peace talks until Russia withdraws

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sees no chance of a negotiated end to the Ukraine war until Russia agrees to withdraw from occupied territories.
"The moment they let it be known that troop withdrawal is happening, the way is clear for talks with Ukraine - I'm pretty sure of that," Scholz said on Thursday in a public debate with citizens in the central German city of Marburg.
"But we still have to work a bit towards that."
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had proposed that countries such as his and China could act as mediators between Ukraine and Russia following the Russian invasion in February last year and subsequent conflict.
Ukraine rejects negotiations until Russian troops have fully withdrawn from Ukrainian territory - including Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
The Kremlin has also distanced itself from the idea of peace talks following the announcement by Germany and other Western countries that they would supply battle tanks to Ukraine.