For the first time in nearly three years, French President Emmanuel Macron held a phone call with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. One of the main topics of discussion was the war in Ukraine. However, France is not the only country whose leaders are currently maintaining contact with the aggressor.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it was France that asked for French President Emmanuel Macron to speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a pause of nearly three years and that the two leaders had a "very substantive" discussion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron have spoken in a phone call after a period of silence between the two leaders stretching almost three years, in a move that may mark a shift in a famously fraught relationship.