The old East vs. West world order seems to have taken a turn for the strange, with there being somewhat of an understanding developing between President Trump, Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping. The understanding seems to be that "this region is your playground, this region is my playground, and we'll look the other way when we get into conflicts with smaller countries/proxies to expand our territory." While it is a relief that there's harmony among nuclear powers, it comes at the cost of those smaller countries being kicked around on the various global playgrounds.
I honestly believe that if Russia were to have more economic ties with the west and the United States, it would have less incentive to regress into warlike behavior. However, fully opening those economic ties right now can send the message that it's OK to continue with its invasion of Ukraine. While President Trump may believe it's essential to negotiations, it is probably not appropriate at this moment to ease major sanctions. One thing I note too with China is that it is actively pursuing constructive economic relationships with other nations, which again indicates to me they are not the sort of country that would be quick to use weapons of mass destruction or even be motivated to do so. You don't bomb your customers and business partners-it's bad business.