As for what those implications are: mostly it's a simple matter of remembering that when people in public office say they believe in something, they usually mean it and should be taken seriously. Assuming otherwise - assuming that everything is part of a cynical Great Game of some kind - is often a diplomatic default, but for all that it may be sophisticated it is not very clever.
This is giving public officials far too much credit. Public officials are obsessed with polls and social media, not values or any kind of grand strategy or belief - it just so happened the public Zeitgeist was unanimously backing Ukraine. The vast majority select their party out of random feels but have no sense about how or why this particular crisis affects people so much. Their short sightedness is what cost this continent dearly they should be publicly flogged and forced to live on a living wage for the rest of their lives. Starting with Gerhard Schröder but also Johnson, VDL, Michel jr, and all the other sociopaths who are a cancer.
Putin assumed the "Great Game" precisely because he looked into the eyes of the European political class and saw profound short sightedness and mediocrity. He just misread public attitudes in Europe and how it would impact the EU response. He is barely on social media and doesn't understand modern public communication outside of his action man stunts. He didn't bank on Zelenskyy at the start of the war staying alive and leading the single most effective public diplomacy campaign in recorded history.
