You are treating this situation like a game where there has to be a possible good outcome and since the current situation is not good the other move would have

You are treating this situation like a game where there has to be a possible good outcome and since the current situation is not good the other move would have been the correct one. That is not a very realistic take. Ukraine's main chance is to bleed Russia dry and make a future invasion not feasible. That needs a Russian economic breakdown and a 10 year time window to let the Europeans arm Ukraine to the teeth. Russia knows this which is why Russian "diplomatic" proposals have the clear goal to make that future invasion easier. It is Ukraine's war of independence against their former colonial master and we will see how it ends.