US Vice President Joe Biden has stated that Washington never intended to send soldiers to Ukraine. Still, the US has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that any aggression will have consequences.

"They never were on the table," Biden told reporters on Saturday in response to a question about why the US opted to scrap plans to send combat troops to Ukraine.

According to Sputnik, the US president stated that if Russia attacks Ukraine, the US will increase its troop presence in NATO countries. Moscow will "pay a terrible price" regarding its global image and economy.

"I've made it absolutely clear to President Putin … that if he moves on Ukraine, the economic consequences for his economy are going to be devastating," Biden said, adding that the US "will have to send more American and NATO troops into the eastern flank" and that "the impact of all of that on Russia and its attitude, the rest of the world's view on Russia, will change markedly."

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesperson, told Greek television station ANT1 on Saturday that Russia has no plans to strike Ukraine. Peskov also chastised Turkey for selling drones to Ukraine, which Kyiv uses in Donbas.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Biden by secure telephone contact, addressing the reported gathering of Russian forces near Ukraine's borders.

In recent weeks, Kyiv and other Western countries have accused Moscow of amassing soldiers near its Ukrainian border. For its part, Moscow has consistently denied the claims, claiming that the West is using them to justify the deployment of NATO military assets near the Russian border.

ON SATURDAY, the US State Department said that Karen Donfried, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, will go to Moscow and Kyiv on December 13-15 and then meet with EU representatives in Brussels to find a diplomatic solution to Ukraine's crisis.