After 1,000 days of Europe’s toughest conflict since World War II, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s surprise call to Russian President Vladimir Putin has reignited diplomatic tensions. This marked the first major outreach by a NATO leader in nearly two years. For Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, the timing—just after the U.S. allowed long-range ATACMs strikes against Russian territory—has been deeply unsettling. Zelensky warned it risked undoing Putin’s isolation, calling it “Pandora’s Box.”