French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin spoke for an hour late on Sunday evening in their second conversation of the day, the French presidency said.

This combination of file photographs created on September 14, 2020, shows (L) Russian President Vladimir Putin taking part in an All-Russian open class titled "To Remember Means To Know" via video conference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow on September 1, 2020 and (R) France's President Emmanuel Macron attending a news conference at the Pine Residence, the official residence of the French ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut on September 1, 2020.(File photo: AFP)

The two leaders had already held a nearly two-hour-long phone conversation on Sunday as part of a series of discussions between heads of state to try to avoid a major conflict in Ukraine.