The New York Times quoted senior US officials as saying that Washington had obtained intelligence that indicated a Russian plan to fabricate a pretext to invade Ukraine.
It quoted that the United States hopes to thwart that plan, which, according to the newspaper, includes filming a "fabricated attack" by Ukrainian forces on Russian territory or against Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.
These officials - who were quoted by "The New York Times" - added that Moscow intends to use the video to accuse Ukraine of committing genocide against Russian speakers and to justify an attack, or as a platform for separatist leaders in the Donbass region to call on it to intervene.
The Pentagon has also said it believes Russia will produce a propaganda video that includes the bodies of people, actors, and photos of destroyed sites.
Russian crowd
In a parallel context, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Rzhenkov said that there are an estimated 115,000 Russian soldiers on the borders of his country, including Belarus, as well as in the "temporary occupied territories" - as he put it - in the Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Rzhenkov also announced the arrival of an American shipment of weapons to the capital, Kiev, the seventh within two weeks, and the third within the past 24 hours.
The Ukrainian minister revealed that the shipment consists of 85 tons of weapons, ammunition and grenade launchers, describing the arrival of the shipment as "good news" and considering that sending weapons to Kiev must continue.
He explained that the amount of weapons received by his country from Washington amounted to about 600 tons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, and he also talked about receiving ammunition and weapons from Britain, including "In-Low" anti-armor missiles.
Turkish mediation
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed the possibility of Ankara hosting a Ukrainian-Russian summit at the leaders' level, or talks at the technical level, to overcome the current crisis between the two countries.
This came in a joint press conference held with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in the capital, Kiev.
Erdogan reiterated Turkey's continued support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including the Crimea.
He explained that Turkey is ready to do what is necessary to end the crisis between Ukraine and Russia, which he described as the two friendly countries and neighbors in the Black Sea.