Couldn’t agree more with the author, which in my opinion is shared among all major specialists of the region.
Minsk II is the only diplomatic solution. Sadly, as the article states, it’d be political suicide to any Ukrainian leader who implemented it. For Kiev, Minsk II is their Versailles Treaty, humiliation signed during extreme duress, fuel for ultra-nationalists.
As for the latest escalation Washington is now calling on Moscow’s bluff to invade, with loudspeakers, lest it seems even more weak after its Afghan fiasco. That Ukraine is just a pawn among these players, is just a sad consequence of geopolitics.