He stated this during a meeting with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

The United States has promised to increase security assistance to Ukraine, despite Russia's repeated denials of plans to invade the country.

Anthony Blinken will meet with his Russian counterpart in Geneva on Friday after talks with European allies in Berlin.

On the eve of his visit to Kyiv, high-ranking State Department officials said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov could be offered a "diplomatic stop" option.

Earlier, Russia made a number of demands to Western governments, including that Ukraine never join NATO and that the Defense Alliance's military activities be restricted in member countries, including Poland.

Talks between the West and Russia last week failed to break through, and some of Moscow's demands were rejected.

"I very much hope that we will be able to continue this through diplomatic and peaceful means, but in the end it will be President Putin's decision", - Anthony Blinken told reporters in Kyiv.

On Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the United States could not force Moscow to withdraw its troops from the Ukrainian border.

"They are in our territory and we will not change their movement due to external pressure", - he said.

Instead, he called on Washington to end its military support for Ukraine, which he said posed a direct threat to Russia's security.

Although Russia says it has no plans to invade, tensions near Ukraine's borders remain high - Russian troops have been deployed in neighboring Belarus for so-called joint military exercises.

It will be recalled that Russia and Belarus will hold joint military exercises from February 10 to 20. They were called "Union Determination - 2022".

Sergei Lavrov also told the United States that Russia was preparing a pretext for a military operation in Ukraine as "complete misinformation".

Blinken's visit to Kyiv on Wednesday was described as an attempt to "strengthen the United States' commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity" ahead of talks in Berlin with German, French and British counterparts.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbok, who visited Moscow on Tuesday, warned that any further military escalation "would incur high costs for the Russian regime - economic, political and strategic".

In turn, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov called on Western governments to immediately impose sanctions on Moscow.

Speaking on the BBC's HardTalk program, he warned that Russia's invasion of the country could lead to bloodshed and a refugee crisis in Europe.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba expressed confidence that Ukraine is now strong enough to pass the current difficult period with dignity, and the most important thing for Ukrainians is not to succumb to the Kremlin's attempts to sow panic and shake up the situation from within.

He said this during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Kyiv.

Dmytro Kuleba noted that Ukraine's situation is much better now than at the beginning of the Russian aggression.

"Ukraine is very strong today. We have a strong army, we have - I will immodestly say - a strong diplomacy, we have strong partners. And although we are aware of all the risks associated with the aggressive intentions of the Russian Federation, we must have confidence and believe in our ability to overcome this difficult moment in our history. And I have no doubt that it will be so", - he said.

The Minister also added that Russia's greatest achievements today will be sowing panic, distrust in Ukrainian society and shaking Ukraine from within, especially the economy and financial system.

"We must make every effort not to allow Russia to achieve this goal… All our efforts are aimed at ensuring that the situation in the country remains stable, the financial system remains strong and predictable, so that the Ukrainian economy does not suffer from security problems", - Dmitry Kuleba said.