Russian Vladimir Putin told Russian diplomats that he made a proposal to Donald Trump at their summit this week to hold a referendum to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but agreed not to disclose the plan publicly so the U.S. president could consider it, according to Bloomberg referring to two people who attended Putin's closed-door speech on Thursday.

One of the agency's sources said that, according to him, Trump asked Putin not to discuss the idea of a referendum at a press conference after the Helsinki summit. Bloomberg says that Putin agreed not to disclose the plan publicly so that Trump could give it some thought, Bloomberg reported.

According to the agency's sources, Putin suggested holding a referendum with the assistance of the international community, at which the population of the unrecognized republics should determine the status of their territories.

Representatives of the White House did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comments.

After the summit in Helsinki on July 16, Trump said that Ukraine was among the areas discussed, without providing details.