Putin, Zelensky discuss east Ukraine conflict in first phone call

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's new president Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the conflict in eastern Ukraine in their first ever telephone conversation, the Kremlin said Thursday.

"Questions of regulating (the conflict) in south-east Ukraine and joint work on the return of persons held on both sides was discussed," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies after Putin's first contact with Zelensky, who was inaugurated in May.

Earlier this week Zelensky called for first talks with Putin in a video address, calling for Western leaders to mediate.

He suggested that the US and Britain should also be included in peace talks on the conflict that currently involves Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine.

Putin on Thursday said Moscow "never refused any of the proposed formats", including the expansion of the group, Russian media reported.

At his inauguration, Zelensky said that ending the war in the east and returning the annexed territory to Ukraine were his priority.

"Let's discuss who Crimea belongs to and who isn't in the Donbass region," Zelensky said in a video address to Putin Monday, referring to the eastern conflict zone.

Some 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine that erupted in 2014 after a popular uprising ousted pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych and Russia responded by annexing Crimea.

Kiev and its Western backers accuse Russia of funnelling troops and arms across the border to fan the flames of the conflict. Moscow denies any military involvement.