On the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the conflict.

“Release the Ukrainian children. Withdraw your troops. End this war. Then there would be peace tomorrow. And the whole world could finally breathe again,” she said in a guest commentary for the Saturday edition of German newspaper Bild.

The minister also accused Putin of a lust for conquest and a lack of willingness to make peace.

“As shocking as it is: Putin doesn’t want negotiations. He doesn’t want peace – he wants ‘conquests’. He says that himself.”

Baerbock also rejected criticism of German arms deliveries to Ukraine.

“Anyone who claims that arms deliveries prolong the war is playing into Putin’s hands. Because it is a lie to say that the West is preventing Ukraine from negotiating,” said Baerbock.

Ukraine had already negotiated with Russia in Istanbul in March 2022 and was prepared to make concessions, said the foreign minister. The basis for this was, of course, that Russia would withdraw its troops.

“But instead of a withdrawal, there was Bucha,” said Baerbock, referring to the Kiev suburb scene of a massacre in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “People who were shot in front of their homes with their hands tied. Raped women.”