Kiev (dpa) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and demanded his help to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine after the death of four Ukrainian soldiers in the region this week.

"I beg you to influence the other side, so that the killing of our people stops," Zelensky says he told Putin, according to remarks the Ukrainian president made to reporters on Wednesday.

Zelensky said it was a long telephone call, the second between the two leaders since Zelensky took office in May. The Kremlin did not immediately confirm the conversation.

Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed on Tuesday in clashes with pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, despite an ongoing ceasefire. Parts of Luhansk and Donetsk have been controlled by separatists, backed by Russia, since 2014.

Zelensky said he also planned to contact German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron to push for a joint meeting with Putin, which he said should take place "notwithstanding previous diplomatic agreements."

Macron's office later said that the French president had spoken with Zelensky by telephone and promised France's support "to quickly bring about concrete results via the Normandy format," a diplomatic contact group involving Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany.

Macron told Zelensky that the issue would be on the table when he meets Putin in France on August 19. The French and Ukrainian leaders would remain in close contact in the coming weeks, his office added.

Zelensky made ending the bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine one of his key electoral pledges. The UN estimates that some 13,000 people have died in the conflict to date.