This is exactly what I'm afraid will happen, and the mostly likely scenario.
Nobody wants a war between nuclear states which is why the west has been waffling on Ukraine. We pushed Ukraine toward believing that NATO membership was possible, something that the Ukrainian people wanted because they knew this exact scenario was very possible, only to have the west drop them like a hot potato when Russia gets serious about not sharing a massive border with NATO. Meanwhile the people of Ukraine are caught in the middle.