The War started in 2014, after the coup of Yanukovych.
Many have died since 2014. Did you expressed outraged when the mostly Ukrainian of Russian heritage were killed?
As to what should have been done - there was a peace deal (Minsk accords) on the table where all parties in the conflict signed.
But Poroshenko and then Zelensky refused to implement them.
Instead, the Ukrainian government was preparing and provoking war.
Here is the Presidential Advisor stating in front of a TV interviewer that the War (from 2014) would continue - instead of a peace agreement after the election of Zelensky.
https://youtu.be/dif-Bg3w3_E?si=X11GsRPtEVeP4QA9
Here is the provocation in 2021: Presidential Decree from Zelensky to invade Crimea.
This is a fundamental and the first document since 2014, which defines the main directions of State policy aimed at reintegration and de-occupation of the temporarily occupied Crimea and provides for the implementation a set of traditional and asymmetric measures of diplomatic, military, economic, informational, humanitarian and in other spheres. It is no exaggeration to say that the adoption of the Strategy of De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol is a historical event. The adoption of such a strategic document has long been expected. It is a public open document, in fact a public policy statement, policy paper. It sets a broad framework for the State’s work on the track of the de-occupation of Crimea.
https://ppu.gov.ua/en/press-center/today-president-of-ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-signed-decree-117-2021-of-march-24-2021-on-the-strategy-of-de-occupation-and-reintegration-of-the-temporarily-occupied-territory-of-the-autonomous-republ/
What did you expect was going to happen after Zelensky signed that Presidential Decree?
