Evidence suggests Russia is planning “the biggest war in Europe since 1945”, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.
He told the BBC’s Sophie Raworth in an interview: “All the signs are that the plan has already in some senses begun.”
Intelligence suggests Russia intends to launch an invasion that will encircle Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Mr Johnson said.
“People need to understand the sheer cost in human life that could entail,” he said.
The prime minister was speaking from Munich, where world leaders are meeting for an annual security conference.
The latest estimates by the US government suggests that between 169,000 and 190,000 Russian troops are stationed along Ukraine’s border, both in Russia and neighbouring Belarus – but this figure also includes rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Mr Johnson warned that any conflict could be “bloody and protracted”, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin was possibly “thinking illogically about this” and did not “see the disaster ahead”.
“I think it’s vital for us all now to get over what a catastrophe it would be for Russia,” he added.
He indicated that the UK and US would bring further sanctions against Russia than have been suggested before, including stopping its companies “trading in pounds and dollars” – a move that he said would “hit very, very hard”.
Mr Johnson added: “The lesson of [the Russian seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in] 2014 is that you can’t just let Vladimir Putin get away with it.”
An invasion of Ukraine would strengthen, rather than weaken, Nato, he predicted, saying Western countries could not allow opposition forces to come to “the false conclusion that might is right”.
“If [Mr Putin] thinks he’s going to get less Nato as a result of this, he’s totally wrong,” Mr Johnson said. “He’s going to get more Nato.”
Ukraine is not a member of Nato or the European Union but has close relations with both.
Russia is insisting its neighbour should not be allowed to join Nato, which it sees as a threat to its security.
Western nations have accused Russia of trying to stage a fake crisis on Ukraine’s border, warning in recent weeks Mr Putin’s forces could be preparing to invade at any time.
But Russia has denied the claims, saying the massed troops are just conducting military exercises.
Asked whether a Russian invasion was still thought to be imminent, Mr Johnson said: “I’m afraid that that is what the evidence points to. There’s no burnishing it.”
The prime minister said US President Joe Biden had told Western leaders that intelligence suggested Russian forces were not just planning on entering Ukraine from the east, via Donbas, but down from Belarus and the area surrounding Kyiv.
“I’m afraid to say that the plan we are seeing is for something that could be really the biggest war in Europe since 1945, just in terms of sheer scale,” he said.
People needed to not only consider the potential loss of life of Ukrainians, but also of “young Russians”, he added.
Mr Johnson was speaking after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and telling world leaders in a speech that any invasion of Ukraine by Russia would “echo around the world”.
Labour said it stood “four-square behind the UK government and Nato, with shadow health secretary Wes Streeting telling Sky News: “There should be no doubt on the resolve of the UK, on a cross-party basis, and the resolve of Nato across the alliance.”
But he also urged the government to do more to prevent the City of London being a “centre” for “Russian kleptocrats and money laundering”.
