China has offered to host a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ways to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Chinese officials have contacted the Trump administration with a proposal to arrange a summit between the two leaders and help negotiate a ceasefire deal. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson stated he had "no information to offer" when asked about the newspaper allegation during a routine press briefing on Thursday. This comes days after the US president declared that Putin "wants to see people stop dying" during a phone conversation with him. Following their reported phone conversation, POTUS stated that the US was making headway with Moscow and expressed hope that the war would end.

US President Donald Trump said that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told him in separate phone calls on Wednesday that they wanted peace. In response, Trump directed top U.S. officials to start discussions on ending the war in Ukraine. Earlier, the Kremlin stated that Putin was open to meeting Trump and even invited him to visit Moscow. Later, Trump mentioned that the meeting with Putin would "probably" happen in Saudi Arabia. “China is happy to see Russia and the United States strengthen communication on a series of international issues,” said Guo Jiakun, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson. “Russia and the United States are both influential major countries.”

“China has always believed that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way to resolve the crisis and has always insisted on promoting peace and dialogue,” Guo said. “China supports all efforts conducive to a peaceful resolution of the crisis, and will continue to maintain communication with relevant parties and continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the crisis.” Western countries have repeatedly asked China to use its close ties with Russia to help end the war. China, however, says it is not directly involved in the conflict but has been pushing for peace talks in its own way.