An assessment pointing toward Ukrainian responsibility for the attack was circulated within the US government last week, the report said, citing officials with knowledge of the situation.
The United States was not involved in the attack and was not aware of the assassination ahead of time, the report said. The US would have opposed the attack if consulted, the report added.
US officials admonished their Ukrainian counterparts for lack of engagement following the assassination, the report said.
The United States has been frustrated by a perceived lack of transparency by Ukraine about its covert plans, particularly those set to take place on Russian soil, according to the report.
Dugina, daughter of prominent political philosopher Alexander Dugin, was killed on August 20 in a car bomb attack after leaving an event where her father was also present. Some US officials have suspected that Alexander Dugin was the intended target of the assassination, the NYT report says.
Ukrainian citizen Natalia Vovk was accused as a suspect in the attack by Russia's Federal Security Service, who claim she entered Russia using a fake passport and then left the country through Estonia after the carrying out the assassination.