During a recent phone call between the two leaders, President Donald Trump told reporters that he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for help in ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Kyiv Independent reported on Tuesday that Trump made this claim when speaking to reporters at the White House.

“He’s not done very much on that,” Trump said. “He’s got a lot of … power, like we have a lot of power. I said, ‘You ought to get it settled.’ We did discuss it.”

Xi spoke with Trump by phone on January 17, but the president didn’t mention Ukraine in the comments he made after the call.

Trump’s comments come a day after he became the 47th President of the United States and coincide with a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi.

Putin proposed a further development of their relationship and said that he wanted “new plans to develop the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership and comprehensive partnership.”

Putin said to Xi, “I am in agreement with you. The cooperation between Moscow Beijing is based upon a wide convergence of national interests as well as a commonality of opinions on how relations between major power should be. We establish our ties based on friendship, mutual support and trust, equality and mutual benefit. These connections are independent from domestic politics and current global conditions.”

Trump stated on Tuesday that he will likely impose additional economic sanctions against Russia if Putin does not agree to negotiations about the end of the war in Ukraine.

Trump stated: “We are talking to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and we will be speaking with President Vladimir Putin very shortly. We are going to take a look at it.”

Trump promised to end the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours after his election. However, since Trump’s victory in November, the timeline has changed significantly. The Independent reported last month that the then-president elect admitted that the situation was “a difficult one.”

Both the United States and Ukraine previously called upon China to exert pressure on Russia to de-escalate, including through withholding military assistance and recalling North Korean soldiers.

China denies accusations that it supported Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, but remains a key economic ally to Moscow. It also positions itself as a possible mediator for a peace deal between the two parties.