Not saying they couldn’t but the fact remains is everyone new Russia was going to invade ..if that wasn’t clear enough ..us intelligence agencies confirmed an invasion was coming ..and Germany was going to keep on pushing with Nordstream 2 , wouldn’t send them weapons and prevented anyone who acquired weapons from them to not do so as well. . . Honestly they were going to leave them to there fate if it wasn’t for Russia not being quick enough, Ukraine actually fighting back but lacking equipment because of certain countries refusing to sell arms, and zelensky using social media to get worldwide support…. And with how Germany was posturing it would be political suicide to allow them to fall now