Whether Russia would withdraw its troops from Belarus was rightly seen as an indicator of Putin's willingness to de-escalate.
The Kremlin itself has repeatedly assured that the Russian soldiers would return home when the maneuvers ended on Sunday.
This is apparently not the case, which first of all shows that the words of the Russian leadership cannot be trusted.
This has been a fundamental problem in dealing with the trained secret service agent in the Kremlin, and not just since this crisis.
So the military pressure on Ukraine remains from three sides.
NATO will also remain vigilant, as Putin's forces operate in a country bordering three allies.
Add in the tensions in eastern Ukraine and the situation remains extremely worrying.
A ceasefire in Donbass, which Macron advocated on Sunday, is urgently needed.
But here again it shows that the Europeans are only trying to put out fires that are being stoked in Moscow.
It cannot be said with certainty that Putin has already decided to invade, as Biden says.
But there is no doubt that Russia has created the conditions for a war such as Europe has not experienced for a long time.
It is not excessive precautionary measures to prepare for refugees and the loss of gas supplies.
The West used the Munich Security Conference at the weekend to reinforce its threat of sanctions and to strengthen its own cohesion.
There were no major cracks that Putin could benefit from.
Ukraine, however, advocated imposing sanctions immediately, or at least saying more clearly what they would look like.
This is understandable given that the country is already paying a high price for Putin's geopolitical aspirations.
But the West should not do the same in this phase as it is not showing its cards.