Olaf Scholz’s call with Vladimir Putin has been criticised after Russia launched one of the largest missile attacks of the war against Ukraine overnight. Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said the barrage proved “no-one will stop Putin with phone calls” and that “telephone diplomacy cannot replace real support from the whole West.

The wildly unpopular chancellor's much-criticized decision to phone the Kremlin comes three months before he faces stiff challenges from the populist left and right.