You are so right when you say this war could have been avoided....

You are so right when you say this war could have been avoided. Nothing to do with Ukraine though as they never went to war with Russia, they’re just protecting their territory as any Country would do. It’s far more than Putin wanting control of resource rich Crimea and The Donbas.
Has nothing to do with NATO/US expansion or the ambitions of the treacherous West. That only eventuated out of fearful global citizens knocking on NATO’s door due to Russia’s aggressive intentions of ultimate control and power.
Perhaps to do with history, because Russia’s history is only one of massive corruption at every single level and total disrespect of anything or anybody not Russian.
Nothing to do with the Russian population. They behave like dogs that have been beaten mercilessly into obedience through continual abuse and oppression and as a result the bulk of the population are a crude, narrow minded, angry lot that totally resent anything that isn’t 100% Russian. They are passive and totally demoralised and could never have any say in avoiding this war.
The war could have been avoided if Russia was not contained in a tight, red political bubble led by an egotistical male who has quite cleverly, at the cost of many lives, accumulated an extraordinary amount of power. As long as the mignons in the Kremlin and desperate autocratic leaders in neighbouring countries continue to feign their respect and bow to Putin’s every wish out of fear, this war with Ukraine will drag on. The irrelevant Russians, and non Russians, will continue to die ‘in the trenches’ to satisfy Putin’s inflated ego and delusional goals of controlling global affairs.
So to end the war now there needs to be a breakdown in the servility of the Russian ‘elites’, a new found spirit in the demoralised general population and a new found acceptance/respect of other sovereign nations. Unfortunately, the bubble Russia lives in is just too tight to broaden their thinking so I doubt that will happen. So nuclear annihilation of Ukraine when Putin spits the dummy is quite possible. Got to love those powerful men!!!!