Vladimir Putin has stopped taking phone calls from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as he pursues his “war and destruction” in Ukraine, says Berlin.
Germany initially took a less robust response to Putin’s invasion, launched in February 2022, than some countries including Britain.
But Berlin has now given billions to Ukraine’s war effort.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky met Mr Scholz in Berlin on Friday when Germany announced a further £500 million for Kyiv.
The German Chancellor stressed this was a message to Putin that the West would not let up in its support for Ukraine.
Earlier, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said: “Ukraine is ready for a just peace.”
Criticising Putin for rejecting overtures for peace talks, she added: “He refuses to accept peace and every day sends another signal in favour of war and destruction.
“These days, he is no longer even prepared to speak to the German chancellor on the phone.”
Mr Zelensky presented his “victory plan” to Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday in London, having also visited Paris for talks with French president Emmanuel Macron.
The Ukrainian president is pleading for consent from America, and other allies, to use long range missiles supplied by the West to target air bases deep inside Russia.
In three-way talks in Downing Street, the Prime Minister, Mr Zelensky and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte discussed the state of the war and the long-range missiles issue.
Mr Rutte said there was no legal reason preventing the use of Western-supplied weapons against targets within Russia, but decisions had to be made by individual states.
Following the talks in No 10, Mr Zelensky said: “The victory plan aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war.
“I thank the United Kingdom for its continued defence support of our country, including with long-range weapons.”
Britain has been at the forefront of arming Ukraine, first with anti-tank weapons, then Challenger II tanks and Storm Shadow long range missiles.
On the intelligence war, former armed forces minister James Heappey said on Thursday that Britain had Putin’s “invasion plan” before he sent his troops into Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky has been pushing for permission to use Storm Shadow and other Western-supplied weapons to hit the Russian airbases and other military sites which are being used by aircraft to fly missions to target Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with “glide bombs”.
Mr Rutte said the Ukrainians would legally be allowed to do that in response to the Russian attacks.
Speaking outside No10: “First of all, that is up to the allies, the individual allies, to decide how weapons they deliver into Ukraine can be used.
“Legally that is possible because legally Ukraine is allowed to use its weapons, if they can hit targets in Russia, if these targets present a threat to Ukraine.
“But whether individual allies do, that’s in the end, (is) always up to individual allies. Of course we discussed this.”
Joe Biden’s administration is reported to be split over the long-range missiles issue, amid concerns that their use against targets far into Russia could escalate the conflict.
In Ukraine, a night-time Russian missile strike on Odesa killed at least four people including a 16-year-old girl, regional authorities said on Friday.
It was the latest in a series of attacks this week on the southern Ukrainian region that are likely intended to disrupt the country’s grain exports.
Four Russian missile and drone attacks on the Odesa region this week have killed 14 people and wounded about 20, according to local officials.
The strikes have hit merchant ships and damaged port infrastructure in the region, which is a vital hub for Ukraine’s agricultural exports through the Black Sea.
An attack on Odesa late on Wednesday killed nine people and hit a container ship sailing under the Panamanian flag - the third attack on a merchant vessel in four days, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper.
The apparent Russian effort to frustrate Ukraine’s exports, which bring crucial revenue for a national economy battered by more than two years of war, coincided with the renewed push by Mr Zelensky to ensure continuing military and financial support from his country’s Western partners.
