Trump made the claim aboard Air Force One as he was departing South Korea, where he held a face-to-face meeting with Xi earlier on Thursday.
“Ukraine came up very strongly. We talked about it for a long time, and we are both going to work together to see if we can get something done,” the US leader stated.
Trump said he and Xi “agree that the sides are locked in fighting and sometimes you gotta let them fight, I guess.”
“But [Xi is] going to help us, and we are going to work together on Ukraine. Not a lot more we can do,” he continued.
The US president added that he had not asked his Chinese counterpart to stop buying Russian oil, despite pledging to do so ahead of the talks.
Beijing has not officially commented on Xi and Trump’s meeting in Busan.