Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of seeking to divide "historic Russia", but stressed that his country is ready to negotiate over Ukraine, amid the continuation of battles along the Ukrainian fronts.

Putin said in an interview, clips of which were broadcast on Russian television on Sunday, that the opponents seek to divide "historic Russia", but Moscow's goal is "completely different, which is to unite the Russian people," indicating that the Ukrainians and Russians are one people.

Regarding the option of negotiation to end the war, the Russian president said, "We are ready to negotiate with all concerned parties about acceptable solutions, but it is up to them. We are not the ones who refuse to negotiate, but they are the ones who reject it."

Putin said that Russia is moving "in the right direction. We defend our national interests and the interests of our citizens and our people, and we have no other choice but to protect our citizens."

When asked if the conflict with the West was approaching dangerous levels, Putin said, "I don't think it is very serious."

Commenting on the Russian President's statements, Mikhailo Podolyak, advisor to the Ukrainian President, said that Putin must return to the ground and admit that Russia is the one that does not want any negotiations.

Podolyak added in a tweet on Twitter, "Russia unilaterally attacked Ukraine and killed its citizens. Russia does not want negotiations, but is trying to evade responsibility."


Bombing of Kramatorsk

On the ground, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that intense shelling targeted the neighborhoods of the city center of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Province, eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian side also announced that the Russian forces had renewed their bombing of Kherson, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv provinces in the south of the country.

But at the same time, Ukraine announced that the threat of air strikes had passed, after sirens sounded in the capital, Kyiv, and other Ukrainian regions, on Sunday morning.

Reuters said that unconfirmed reports on Ukrainian social networks stated that the sirens may have sounded after Russian planes flew over Belarus, and that the declaration of the end of danger was issued after the return of those planes to their bases.

On the other hand, the pro-Russian local authorities in Donetsk announced that 4 civilians - including a child - were injured in the continuous Ukrainian shelling of residential neighborhoods in the province, she said.

She added that the Ukrainian forces bombed Donetsk more than 40 times during the past 24 hours with about 200 shells, using artillery and rocket launchers, which caused material damage to 7 houses and 4 infrastructure facilities.


Bakhmut battles

At the same time, the pro-Russian authorities in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk region reported that Kyiv had moved more of its forces to the strategic Svatovo-Pakhmut axis in the Donbass region, which includes Donetsk and Lugansk provinces.

The Russian news agency Sputnik quoted an officer of the pro-Russian forces in Lugansk as saying that the retreat of the Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut - according to him - was due to what he described as heavy losses in their ranks.

The same source stated that the Ukrainian forces regularly bombed the Svatovo-Bakhmut axis with US "HIMARS" missiles, in an attempt to penetrate the defenses in this region.