A bit of this but mostly as others pointed out, EU nations reliant on Russian gas also happen to hold large sway over other members is what is causing reluctance to destroy their own economy to serve the interests of US security umbrella.

One EU country went as far as to remove ALL nuclear source of energy to increase dependence on Rosneft. In this same country many DO NOT WANT another Greece mooching off them and WANT putin to take Ukraine out of the picture before other EU smaller member states with US backing will demand them in.

Likely some talk took place between Xi and Putin to create a barter system, to trade Grain for Oil and vice versa. This explains why Putin is totally unphased by threats of Western sanctions because he realizes the EU's interest is not aligned with NATO/US security goals.

Think about this by supplying cheap Russian gas, they could overnight dictate where the next industrial region in Europe would form. They could sell to Berlin at several times the markup it used to receive while supplying its industrial outsourcing in other European countries with cheaper gas to force to spread out Germany's production chain.

There's just so many ways to manipulate Europe, its no longer clear who holds the ultimate veto power in Europe. Is it the nuclear armed and hesitant Western Europe nations or is it the nuclear armed and hostile Russia?

Financial sanctions just do not make an impact if a country is determined to take its national security concerns known to its enemies.

Putin is not only cunning, he is proving to be far more capable and adventurous than any other leader in the region. Like in a game of poker, fortune favors the bold, or whoever risks more stands to gain/lose more.

Kiev will fall in a few weeks and Russia has barely used its full capacity, most likely to avoid collateral damage that would impact its political objectives: decapitation of the central Ukranian authority