PARIS, March 10. /TASS/. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday said he’s ready to hold further talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ways to settle the situation in Ukraine.

"I actively discuss it with others: regularly with President [of Ukraine Vladimir] Zelensky, but also, of course, with the Russian president, including with my French counterpart. This is very important," Scholz said as he arrived at Versailles for an EU summit. "It’s also important that at this summit it’s especially obvious that Europe is united, that the EU acts in unison."

According to Scholz, "no one expected" that the European Union will be so united on the issue of Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. "I would like us to continue to hold together," he said.

He declined to comment on reports that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is now in Moscow to mediate a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.

On February 24 Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Afterward, the US, EU, UK and some other countries said they were imposing sanctions on Russian individuals and legal entities.