> always let Russian attacks though

The article doesn't say anything of the sort. Literally just said to put a halt on OFFENSIVE operations.

If I were to guess I'd say it was an overly ambitious negotiation tactic.

Also, that was a year and a half ago. The current status quo is that Ukraine is producing more drones than Russia can deal with, bombing Russian targets daily and the US-Ukraine relationship is much closer, with Ukraine sharing drone technology and intel with the US.