Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that his country does not want to occupy Ukraine as Moscow’s invasion entered the fourth week with no end to conflict in sight. “The appearance of Russian troops near Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine is not connected with the intention to occupy this country. We do not have such a goal, and I also directly stated this in my address on February 24,” Putin said in a televised government meeting on March 16. Instead, Russia was forced with “no other option for self-defense,” he said. Characterizing the government of Kyiv as “pro-Nazi,” Putin pointed to the “real genocide” of people in Ukraine’s Donbas region who were, for almost eight years, subjected to the “most barbaric methods.” The Ukrainian government imposed blockades and large-scale punitive actions as well as carried out constant artillery shelling and “terrorist attacks” on Donbas, according to Putin. “And for …