Schröder’s Moscow visit followed talks in Istanbul with a Ukrainian politician who is a member of the country’s delegation for peace talks with Russia, according to a detailed account of the initiative provided to POLITICO by a person closely involved.

“Ukraine wanted to see if Schröder could build a bridge for dialogue with Putin,” one of the sources said.

Last week, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, suggested Schröder could try to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv.