Russia attacked Ukraine after three decades of provocation, all of which ramped up sharply after the Maidan Coup.

A New York Times article from 2014:

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/world/europe/ukraine.html?ref=world&_r=0

"Despite growing jitters in the West, Ukraine’s military leaders say they are making a well-calculated gamble, betting that Mr. Putin feels he has too much to lose to invade, including the possibility of crippling international sanctions. So while Western officials view each new Ukrainian artillery barrage in Donetsk as drawing the country closer to the brink, the Ukrainians see their unchecked advance as further confirmation that Mr. Putin is mobilizing troops only as a scare tactic to keep them from reclaiming territory."

This is why every Western politician, every Western media outlet, every Western pundit and celebrity must always insert the word “unprovoked” when talking about Russia’s invasion. They need to do this, they need to make The Big Lie as big as possible, because the more times you tell a lie, the more people believe it.

As you can see even from the NY Times (which always cheerleads for war), “Western officials” knew that Ukraine’s slaughter of ethnic Russians in the Donbas was “drawing the country closer to the brink”.

They did nothing, because THEY WANTED THE WAR.