BERLIN, January 22. /TASS/. During a news conference on Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged to prevent a military escalation over Ukraine by all means possible.

"We need to do everything in our power to avert a military aggression," he said.

"It is very important to have various negotiation formats at our disposal," the chancellor continued, mentioning the Normandy Format involving Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine. "Together with France, we agreed to step up the negotiation process with Russia and Ukraine."

At the same time, he admitted that the present-day situation surrounding Ukraine was "very serious".