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“We’ve been aware of Russia’s actions for a long time and my expectation is we’re going to have a long discussion,” Mr. Biden told reporters Friday night when asked about the possibility of Russia invading Ukraine.

A National Security Council spokesperson said on Friday night that the United States did not seek conflict with Russia and believed diplomacy was the best way to avert a crisis and prevent US.-Russian relations from spiraling further downward.

U.S. officials have hinted vaguely in recent days that they have specific reasons for their heightened concern about an invasion of Russia’s neighbor, a former Soviet republic that Mr. Putin considers a rightful part of Russia.

Speaking to reporters in Stockholm, Sweden on Thursday, Mr. Blinken referred to “evidence that Russia has made plans for significant aggressive moves against Ukraine.” Speaking to reporters on his official plane later that day, General Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, referred to “warnings from an intelligence standpoint,” saying “there’s enough out there now to cause a lot of concern.”

Mr. Blinken and other U.S. officials have been consulting with U.S. allies in Europe to devise retaliatory measures against possible Russian aggression against Ukraine, where Mr. Putin has long backed a pro-Moscow separatist insurgency and in 2014 annexed the Crimean Peninsula.

Mr. Blinken said this week that the United States would respond to “Russian aggression against Ukraine” with “high-impact economic measures that we’ve refrained from taking in the past,” but did not provide more details.

Mr. Blinken conveyed that warning during a Thursday meeting in Stockholm with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. But it is unclear whether Mr. Putin can be deterred by such threats.