President Donald Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington this autumn, the White House said on Thursday.

Four days after Trump stunned the world by siding with Putin in Helsinki over his intelligence agencies, the president asked national security adviser John Bolton to issue the invitation to the Russian leader, said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

Also on Friday, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said Putin has made Trump a concrete offer on Ukraine.

“This problem has been discussed, concrete proposals have been made on how to resolve this issue,” Antonov said, referring to the four-year conflict.

He declined to provide specifics at the meeting of experts and journalists in Moscow.

Antonov spoke after Bloomberg reported Thursday that at the Helsinki summit Putin called for a referendum to be held with the help of international community in Ukraine’s breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which Russia-backed separatists control.

Source: Agencies