Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he has secured Israel's pledge to safeguard Russian personnel at Iran's Russia-built nuclear power plant and that he has reached out to both sides to try to end the week-old war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made the following comments at a plenary session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

Hours of talks aimed at de-escalating fighting between Israel and Iran failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough as the war entered its second week with a fresh round of strikes between the two adversaries.