The conversation marked the first direct contact between the two since Leo became pope last month, news agencies reported.
"The Pope made an appeal for Russia to take a gesture that would favor peace, emphasizing the importance of dialogue to create positive contacts between the parties and seek solutions to the conflict," the Vatican said in a statement.
It added that Leo and Putin "also discussed the ongoing efforts for prisoner exchanges and the value of the work that Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, is doing in this regard."
Zuppi, the Vatican’s peace envoy for Ukraine, has led Vatican diplomacy aimed at easing the humanitarian toll of the conflict, the Reuters news agency reported.
The Kremlin said Putin thanked Leo for offering to assist in resolving the conflict, but accused Ukraine of seeking to escalate the war, according to Reuters.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said Leo, the first American pope, had offered to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine at the Vatican.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other officials have dismissed the idea, saying the Vatican is not a suitable venue for negotiations between two predominantly Orthodox Christian nations, Reuters reported.
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Source: Reuters, IAR, PAP, vaticannews.va