Germany's Merkel, Russia's Putin Discuss Ukraine Crisis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the Ukraine crisis began in late 2013.

The meeting, reportedly looking into ways for rapprochement between Russia and the West, went on about an hour. Dmitry Peskov, Putin's Press Secretary who attended the meeting, was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying the conversation was fully dedicated to Ukraine.

No results of the closed-door meeting were disclosed, but Russian media reports suggested the two leaders had aimed to outline a plan to solve the Ukrainian crisis, which caused the biggest rift between Europe and Moscow since the end of the Cold War.

German government officials could not confirm such reports, according to Der Spiegel.

Both Merkel and Putin are in France to celebrate the 70-th anniversary of D-Day, the largest ever landing of troops by sea which took place during WWII. They met short before the ceremony marking the event which led to Allied Forces' advance into Europe and later on to the defeat of Nazi Germany.