Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko has met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for informal talks on the sidelines of the D-Day commemorations in France.
French President Francois Hollande told a war veteran at the ceremony that world leaders had wanted to use the 70th anniversary commemorations to bring the two men together to discuss the Ukraine crisis.
An official in Mr. Hollande's office said the two leaders discussed how Russia could recognise the Ukrainian elections and a possible ceasefire.
Their brief interaction, which some reports said was as short as one minute while others said lasted 15 minutes, took place after world leaders gathered for a group photograph.
Mr. Hollande, responding to a question about Mr. Putin during a conversation with the war veteran, described the meeting as "friendly".
He said "Yes we talked to him and with President Poroshenko, we made Ukraine and Russia talk".
After the photo, Petro Poroshenko, Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel remained outside as they talked.
Ernie Lamson, a World War II veteran, still wears his original Airborne wings, around his left wrist (Image: US Army)
No plans have been announced for a formal meeting between the two men despite a week of intense diplomacy aimed at resolving the crisis in Ukraine.
The talk is the first meeting between the two leaders since Mr. Poroshenko was elected.
Mr. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement that he and Mr Poroshenko had called for a "soonest end to bloodshed in southeastern Ukraine and combat action by both parties, the Ukrainian armed forces and supporters of the federalisation of Ukraine".
US President Barack Obama also spoke with Mr. Putin at the commemoration ceremonies, marking their first face-to-face conversation since the crisis began in Ukraine.
The White House said the conversation was informal and lasted around 15 minutes as the leaders ate lunch inside a chateau.
Mr. Putin has held meetings with the British Prime Minister David Cameron, Mrs. Merkel and French president Francois Hollande this week to discuss sanctions imposed on Russia after it annexed the Crimean peninsula.
It comes after 15 pro-Russian rebels were killed at a border crossing on Thursday.
Anton Herashchenko, an aide to the Ukrainian interior minister, said guards clashed with armed men who approached the border in trucks from the Russian side of the border close to the village of Marynivka.
Five Ukrainian soldiers were also injured during the clashes. Parts of the border in eastern Ukraine were closed after the incident.
Officials have claimed more than 200 people have died in fighting between Ukraine government troops and pro-Russian rebels in recent weeks.
World leaders are gathered in Normandy to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
A re-enactment of the moment 150,000 Allied troops landed in France is seen as one of the highlights of the ceremony at Sword Beach in Ouistreham, one of five places where the soldiers came ashore.
It marked the start of an 80-day campaign to liberate Normandy, an operation that involved 3 million troops and cost some 250,000 lives.
Veteran Stephen Conynghan was there.
Services were held at beaches and war cemeteries across the region, as well as at Bayeaux Cathedral.
Some 70 years after the exact moment the first gliders landed, a champagne toast was raised at Café Gondree, the restaurant next to the bridge, which became the first house to be liberated in France.
American veterans gathered at dawn on Omaha Beach, where a statue of two soldiers was unveiled.
Addressing the veterans and world leaders gathered at the opening ceremony, US President Barack recalled how the D-Day landings allowed Allied troops to liberate Europe from the Nazis.
On Thursday, a commemorative parachute jump honoured the soldiers who dropped into France in the early hours of June 6th as part of the crucial airborne invasion.
