MUNICH (AP) Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday heralded NATO unity during the escalating Ukraine crisis and warned Russia that the U.S. and Western allies stood ready to respond with tough sanctions if President Vladimir Putin moves forward with an invasion of Ukraine.

In a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg as the annual Munich Security Conference got underway, Harris thanked the alliance for all that you have done throughout the crisis.

We remain, of course, open to and desirous of diplomacy, as it relates to the dialogue and the discussions we have had with Russia, but we are also committed, if Russia takes aggressive action, to ensure there will be severe consequence in terms of the sanctions we have discussed, Harris told Stoltenberg. And we know the alliance is strong in that regard.

Harris and her top national security aides huddled with Stoltenberg after President Joe Biden on Thursday in Washington warned that every indication suggests Russia is prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.

Russia probably has massed between 169,000 and 190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine, said Michael Carpenter, the permanent U.S. representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The 190,000 estimate announced Friday includes not only military troops along the border and in Belarus but also forces that were not included in the previous U.S. estimate of 150,000. It adds troops in Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014; Russian National Guard and other internal security units; and Russian-led forces in eastern Ukraine.

Harris said it was intentional that she was holding her first meeting at the annual security conference with NATOs secretary general. The administration is trying to drive the message to Putin that the crisis has only bolstered the 30-country military alliances resolve to push back against Moscows aggression.