Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that retaking parts of Ukrainian territory may have to be achieved through diplomatic means, rather than military force.

In an interview with the Japanese news agency, Kyodo News, Zelenskyy said it is difficult to reclaim some of the Russian occupied parts of his country by force, including the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as things stand.

“Our army lacks the strength to do that. That is true,” Zelenskyy said. “We do have to find diplomatic solutions.”

He stressed that such steps could be considered “only when we know that we are strong enough” to prevent Russia from launching new aggression against Ukraine. Zelenskyy’s comments indicate a shift away from his long-held stance that his country will fight to regain all territory seized by Russia.

Zelenskyy has called on the outgoing Biden administration to help convince Nato members to invite Ukraine to join the alliance, as Russia continues to make battlefield gains. He said the conflict has entered a “complicated period”.

In October, he revealed a so-called victory plan, which contains a step that some crucial western allies have so far refused to countenance: inviting Ukraine to join Nato before the war ends.

As we mentioned in the opening summary, Olaf Scholz held an hour-long call with Vladimir Putin on 15 November, angering Kyiv as it was seen to weaken Europe’s attempt to isolate the Russian president.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it opened a “Pandora’s box” that undermined efforts to end the war in Ukraine with “a fair peace”.

Scholz defended the call with Putin, their first direct communication in almost two years, saying it was important to tell him he cannot count on German support for Ukraine to wane. Scholz reportedly condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine and called on Moscow to negotiate with Kyiv to come to a “fair and lasting peace”.

He also criticised Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops against Ukraine, describing it as a “grave escalation” of the conflict (according to US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments, up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia as part of a major defence treaty between Russia and North Korea).

Scholz’s willingness to engage with Putin is likely to provoke frustration in Ukraine, whose future became uncertain after Donald Trump’s victory, as American military aid may be reduced during his presidency.

As the second biggest backer of Ukraine after the US, Germany faces concerns that it will be left to take on a far bigger share of the war effort if Trump carries out his threat to reduce support for Kyiv, my colleagues Pjotr Sauer and Kate Connolly note in this story.

Good morning and welcome to our coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, visited Ukraine for the first time in more than two and a half years on Monday.

The diplomatic trip comes just weeks after he was criticised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for having a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Their call came at a time of widespread speculation about what the new administration of president-elect Donald Trump will mean for Ukraine.

Scholz, who is under pressure from many voters to cut aid to Kyiv, said that, in his meeting with Zelenskyy, he will announce further military supplies this month totalling €650m (£539m). Zelenskyy is set to push Nato to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance at a meeting in Brussels this week.

“Ukraine can rely on Germany – we say what we do and we do what we say,” the German chancellor said.

In other developments:

• At least one person was killed and others injured in a Russian attack on Ternopil in western Ukraine, reports said on Monday morning. The city mayor, Serhiy Nadal, said a drone hit the fifth floor of an apartment building, starting a fire.

• Ukraine’s air force said on Monday that Russia launched 110 drone attacks the previous night. The air force shot down 52 while 50 were “lost”, likely due to electronic warfare, it said. One remained in Ukrainian airspace and six headed toward Belarus and Russia.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that his country needed security guarantees from Nato and more weapons to defend itself before any talks with Russia. He called for “steps forward with Nato” and a “good number” of long-distance weapons for Ukraine to defend itself. “Only when we have all these items and we are strong, after that, we have to make the very important … agenda of meeting with one or another of the killers,” he said, adding that the EU and Nato should be involved in any negotiations. Zelenskyy made the comments after meeting the EU’s new foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, and the EU council chief, Antonio Costa, who were visiting Kyiv as a show of support on their first day in office.

• Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, on Monday warned her Chinese counterpart that Beijing’s support for Russia would “impact” ties. “Foreign minister Baerbock emphasised that the increasing Chinese support for Russia’s war against Ukraine has an impact on our relations, as core German and European security interests are affected,” according to a German foreign ministry spokesperson.