Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Sunday for immediate talks on the "statehood" of southern and eastern Ukraine, although his spokesman said this did not mean Moscow now endorsed rebel calls for independence for territory they have seized, according to The Associated Press.

Talks should be held immediately "and not just on technical issues but on the political organization of society and statehood in southeastern Ukraine", Putin said in an interview with Channel 1 state television, his hair tousled by wind on the shore of a lake, the AP reported.

Moscow, for its part, he said, could not stand aside while people were being shot "almost at point blank," according to the AP.

The Kremlin leader's remarks, two days after a public appearance in which he compared the Kiev government with Nazis and warned the West not to "mess with us", came as Europe and the United States prepared possible further sanctions to halt what they say is direct Russian military involvement in the war in Ukraine, the AP reported.

Putin's use of the word "statehood" was interpreted in Western media as implying backing for the rebel demand of independence, something Moscow has so far stopped short of publicly endorsing, according to the AP.

However, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was no new endorsement from Moscow for rebel independence. Asked if "New Russia", a term pro-Moscow rebels use for their territory, should still be part of Ukraine, Peskov said: "Of course," the AP reported.

"Only Ukraine can reach an agreement with New Russia, taking into account the interests of New Russia, and this is the only way to reach a political settlement," he added, according to the AP.

Rebels have rallied behind the term "New Russia" since Putin first used it in a public appearance in April, the AP reported. Putin called it a tsarist-era term for land that now forms southern and eastern Ukraine. Ukrainians consider the term deeply offensive and say it reveals Moscow's imperial designs on their territory.