That is what we are seeing since 2015. Ukraine and Russia signed a peace deal in 2015 to stop the civil war: Minsk II.

Russia honored the Minsk II. Ukraine didn't, as Poroshenko, Merkel and Hollande have all publicly stated. As late as December 2021, Russia and Putin personally were trying to get Minsk II honored through negotiations.

The invasion in 2022 was because Ukraine ramped up shelling of the Donbas by 3x over a few days and massed (IIRC) 60,000 troops on the border of the Donbas. Ukraine was planning to wipe out the separatists, making the peace treaty moot. Russia invaded to stop a larger loss of life. That last sentence is Russia's justification, based on the UN treaty and US actions in Kosovo. I don't know if there is an objective legal body to decide if their justification is valid.

In any case, right now what I've read several placs is that the West and Ukraine are hoping for a settlement that leaves the Donbas autonomous and Crimea in Russian hands. I think Russia won't agree to that deal, but it should be noted that that deal is nearly exactly what Minsk II was in 2015.

If what I've read is correct (can't be sure). that would mean all this loss of life since 2015 and destruction was for a gamble that Ukraine could get a better deal on the battlefield than they could at the negotiation table. Right now it looks like a gamble Ukraine is going to lose.

From the US side, a cynic would say that that the US didn't care whether Ukraine got a better deal. In any case a war between Ukraine and Russia would be good for the US business-wise and geopolitically. Unless of course we all die in a nuclear holocaust.