Vladimir Solovyov, the host of Russian-1, the nation’s most-watched state broadcaster, said it would “make sense for us to open another front” against Germany. He branded the country “Nazis”, as has become custom of Russian propaganda, and claimed they were all “direct descendants of [Joseph] Goebbels”. His comments come as Mr Scholz, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and the leaders of Italy and Romania, visited Kyiv to show solidarity with Ukraine and meet President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Solovyov said: “It would make sense for us to open another front and drop the hammer on defenceless Germany.
“To make that those Nazis have no illusions. I watched German television the other day. I already spoke about it yesterday, and it infuriated me. They are direct descendants of [Joseph] Goebbels.”
Alexander Sosnovsky, German blogger, said: “One month ago, Scholz openly said ‘I won’t travel to Kyiv just for a photo opportunity’.
“He recently repeated the same point, which means that there is a plan that they want to discuss with Zelensky.”
When asked by Mr Solovyov what the plan could be, Mr Sosnovsky suggested there would be a third Minsk Agreement.
The previous two pacts, negotiated in 2014 to end the war in the Donbas, achieved some form of peace but did not entirely end the war.
The agreement consisted of a package of measures, including a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, release of prisoners of war, constitutional reform in Ukraine granting self-government to certain areas of Donbas and restoring control of the state border to the Ukrainian government.
A second agreement had followed the Minsk Protocol, which was first drafted in 2014 and presided over by France and Germany, because the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) rejected the negotiations.
READ MORE: Ukraine LIVE: Do it! Lavrov goads UK to ‘force Russia to knees’ [LIVE]
The visit to Ukraine by the three most powerful EU leaders had taken weeks to organise while they fended off criticism over positions described as too deferential to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine has long criticised Mr Scholz over what it regards as Germany’s slow delivery of weapons and reluctance to sever economic ties with Moscow, and was furious this month at Mr Macron for saying in an interview that Russia must not be “humiliated”.
Italy has also proposed a peace plan which Ukrainians fear could lead to pressure on them to give up territory. After the talks in Kyiv, Mr Macron said some sort of communication channel was still needed with Putin.
But speaking after the talks, Mr Zelensky said: “We appreciate the support already provided by partners, we expect new deliveries, primarily heavy weapons, modern rocket artillery, anti-missile defence systems.”