French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday he saw a path forward on easing tensions with Russia over Ukraine, after conducting an urgent round of shuttle diplomacy between Moscow and Kyiv.

Macron held talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv a day after a five-hour meeting at the Kremlin with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

The French leader said he now saw the "possibility" for talks involving Moscow and Kyiv over the festering conflict in the east of the country to move forward, and "concrete, practical solutions" to lower tensions between Russia and the West.

"We cannot under-estimate the moment of tension that we are living through," Macron said at a joint press conference after meeting Zelensky.

"We cannot resolve this crisis in a few hours of talks," he said. "It will be the day and the weeks and the months to come that will allow us to progress."

Macron -- who now heads to Berlin for talks with the leaders of Germany and Poland -- said Putin had told him that Russia "would not be the source of an escalation," in the situation.

Putin -- who has demanded sweeping security guarantees from NATO and the United States -- said after his talks with Macron that Moscow would "do everything to find compromises that suit everyone".

He said several proposals put forward by Macron could "form a basis for further steps" on easing the crisis over Ukraine, but did not give any details.