The democracies you speak of rehabilitated Nazis after WWII and have sponsored the most brutal dictators to depress true democracy. NATO is possibly the most aggressive force in the world and responsible for millions of deaths.

Can we not at least agree that Russia is no worse than the forces of Ukraine and its allies? Then we can look at this conflict without the ridiculous demonisation of Putin or the rubbishing of Russia's competence in battle. We can evaluate those two things at our leisure if we get to exist beyond the imminent threat of annihilation.