It was known from the start how this would end. That is, with a Russian victory. Russia could not lose, far too much was at stake regarding its national security was at risk. The only thing that could have stopped Russia winning would have been direct intervention in Ukraine by the western powers via NATO. That option was barred right at the start due to the inevitability of a wider war erupting, quite possibly leading to an all-out nuclear war with Russia.
I think that the only way to stop this ‘war’ is and was via diplomacy and not via NATO involvement. Sorry!