Mr. Putin stated, “I don’t doubt they’re already calculating to find out how to notice these plans.”

American officers have stated for months that there aren’t any such plans, and Mr. Biden stated at a January information convention that Ukraine was nonetheless years away from qualifying for NATO membership. However, he has been unwilling to bend to Mr. Putin’s demand that NATO stop accepting new members and that he present a written, binding assurance that Ukraine would by no means be a part of the Western alliance.

Mr. Biden’s choices for countering any navy strikes into Ukraine in coming days are restricted. He has stated repeatedly that he wouldn’t enable American forces to struggle in Ukraine. However, there isn’t any assurance that the battle is not going to spill over Ukraine’s borders.

Europe was girding for refugees fleeing a contemporary, if corruption-ridden, democracy whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was in Munich on Saturday pleading his case that NATO should open its doorways to his nation — and thus defend it. Mr. Biden’s personal nationwide safety officers have been warning American utilities, banks, and different companies to harden their networks against what they worry will likely be a wave of Russian-origin cyberattacks and ransomware, which they’ve publicly warned may very well be unleashed in response to the sanctions.

Whereas Mr. Biden’s actions on Monday night could have been restrained, his administration denounced the Russian determination as a breach of the foundations governing the worldwide order.

In an announcement, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, called Mr. Putin’s transfer a “blatant violation of Russia’s worldwide commitments.”

The common secretary of the United Nations, António Guterres, called the motion a violation of his group’s constitution. The United Nations Safety Council held an emergency assembly late Monday night during which the US and its allies denounced Moscow’s actions — however, Russia holds a veto in that body, assuring that it might block any motion.

In a joint assertion, the European Fee president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Council president, Charles Michel, wrote that the European Union would “react with sanctions towards those concerned by this unlawful act,” and that it “reiterates its unwavering assistance to Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity inside its internationally acknowledged borders.”