> Yes, not Ukraine, only the occupied territories.
The “occupied territories” are, more fully, Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. Which clearly shows that, under the usual meanings of words, Putin’s claim of no intent to occupy “Ukrainian territory” was a lie.
Now, obviously, under a definition where any territory Russia occupies is, ipso facto, not “Ukrainian”, Putin’s claim is tautologically true, but also devoid of all meaning. Putin’s statements, therefore, provide no actual guidance on his intentions, since his actual actions demonstrate that, to the extent that they have any meaning at all rather than being stated just for emotional impact at the time they are uttered, it has nothing to do with the usual meanings of the actual words used and can only be reconstructed retrospectively after observing the actions he actually takes and trying to fit what meaning the words could have around that.
Which, it should go without saying, is the polar opposite of being “clear”.