The main goal of Ukraine's recent attacks on Russian regions is to interfere with the upcoming presidential election, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks published Wednesday.

"The main goal, I have no doubt about it, is to - if not to disrupt the presidential elections in Russia – then at least somehow interfere with the normal process of expressing the will of citizens," Putin told Russia's RIA state news agency and Rossiya-1 state television in a wide-ranging interview.

Putin, who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, is nearly certain to win the March 15 to 17 presidential vote.