US President Joe Biden has agreed "in principle" to hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the crisis in Ukraine.

According to foreign media, the Telegraph reports, the talks proposed by France will take place only if Russia does not invade its neighbor, the White House said.

The meeting could offer a possible diplomatic solution to one of Europe's worst security crises in decades.

US officials say intelligence suggests Russia is ready to launch a military operation, which Moscow denies.

The proposal was announced by the French presidency after two phone calls between President Emmanuel Macron and President Putin, which lasted for almost three hours in total.

The second exchange took place in the early hours of Monday with Moscow time and followed a 15-minute conversation that Macron had with Biden.

Macron's office said the details of the possible meeting would be discussed during a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday.

In a statement confirming the proposal, the White House also said that Russia appeared to be "continuing preparations for a full-scale attack on Ukraine very soon" and that the United States was ready to impose "rapid and severe consequences" if that happened.

Russia has amassed more than 150,000 troops near Ukraine's borders, according to U.S. estimates.

The U.S. company Maxar said the new satellite imagery showed numerous new ground deployments of armored vehicles and troops from Russian garrisons near the border with Ukraine, indicating increased military readiness.

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