It was not just Merkel. Hollande confirmed what Merkel said. Poroshenko also said (literally) that Minsk was just to "buy time".

Military analysts and experts - and Merkel herself - said that Ukraine was weak in 2014, and that the intervening years were used to great advantage to arm, train and strengthen Ukraine.

Everyone agrees that Russia could have easily and quickly defeated Ukraine in 2014.

If Putin wanted to destroy Ukraine, why did he sit back and wait, relying on Minsk negotiations rather than just invading as soon as the Azovs and Aidars and Tornados started slaughtering Russians in the Donbas?

The ICC is a joke.