Here’s some details of how the negotiations happened
European Ministers Nudged Ukraine Political Compromise Along
A few interesting details. It seems Merkel played the heavy…

As the ministers listened in, she told him this was his only chance to end the conflict peacefully, the delegation member said

This is interesting too….

Mr. Yanukovych broke off from negotiations to consult Mr. Putin, who had sent a junior official to observe the talks. The U.S. wasn’t represented.

Russia only sent a low level clerk, US wasn’t even present. I think the “fuck the EU” policy meant we weren’t invited. Europeans and Canadians coordinated simultaneous sanctions a day or two ago, we are still contemplating sanctions.
Kudos to the Germans and French, looks like they did the right thing here.