So why are they so soft? Russia should had been already sanctioned and Ukraine supported with military capabilities. It is almost as if they were giving green light to Russia to partially invade Ukraine. They are setting a terrible precedent for future conflicts (like Taiwan-China). And, as we saw with Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea and Cuba, sanctions are useless by themselves. I’m not saying that they should kill Putin as they did with Soleimani, but it should be clear that an invasion will have a huge cost for the Russian army. At this moment, it seems that Russia invading Ukraine will be quick and effective.
What I think is that Russia will partially invade and the US will sell weapons to Ukraine. The EU will be happy that is only a partial invasion and will stay put, maybe giving some economic relief to Ukraine.