"We have agreed that in preparation for this dialogue we will talk again — four heads of state and government — with the US president," Merz was quoted as telling reporters in Rome by the Bild newspaper.
One can only hope for the further progress to be made, the German chancellor said, adding that he has already discussed the possible Trump-Putin call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
On Saturday, Trump said he was planning to speak by phone to Putin on May 19.
On Friday, the Ukrainian newspaper reported, citing Volodymyr Zelensky's spokesman, Sergii Nykyforov, that Zelensky and Merz, together with French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, held a telephone conversation with Trump on the sidelines of the European Political Community (EPC) summit in the Albanian capital of Tirana.