could very well revive Western pressure for negotiations that would obviously favor Russia, leaving the Kremlin free to revive the conflict at a future time of its choosing.

The last time there was a negotiated agreement, Russia retreated from Kiev and a bunch of land as a show of good will. Then Ukraine went back on the signed peace deal and decided to continue the war at the behest of its masters.

The time before that, Merkel admitted that it was only done so Ukraine could buy time so the West could arm it for this war. Which by the way, Ukraine started by intensifying its bombardments of civilian centers in Donetsk and Luhansk, after every Russian warning, declaring its willingness to acquire nuclear weapons, and courting NATO.

They were also scathing about Western foot-dragging, saying supplies and weapons systems came too late and in insufficient numbers to make the difference they otherwise could have

Why would they expect anything different? What made them think that the West is a reliable ally? Unfortunately after the collapse of the USSR, through a mixture of propaganda and cynicism, there's a lot of non-Western people who romanticize the West as "better than us", in a twisted global form of Stockholm Syndrome.