Western governments need to impose sanctions on Russia “this moment” rather than after an invasion of Ukraine, the country’s defense minister has said.

January 20, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told BBC HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur that failure to act would result in “a lot of blood… a lot of refugees. It will be disaster for Europe.”

Invading Ukraine, however, would be "very difficult for the Russians." According to Reznikov, Moscow's main goal is to wreak havoc in Ukrainian cities and try to change political power in Ukraine.

He also stated that in order to avoid crisis the West must sanction Russia.