Nobody was talking about invading Ukraine before 2010, even in 2014 the idea about invasion was marginal: Crimea was something that wasn't generally perceived as a part of Ukraine (bc reasons, don't dive into it), while Donbass was washed as a separatist movement.

But there was also a significant piece of propaganda that demonized the new Ukrainian government, its people, and the whole premise of Ukraine's existence. This propaganda was not a deliberate preparation for invasion, but a move that put the invasion card on Putin's table as an option.

The very same is happening in the western media with the same methods used, like one discussed before. To have this option just in case they need to engage in a war with Russia.

I hate the US and Russia equally

As a Russian myself, I don't. They are not equal at all: Russia is an established authoritarian state with imperialistic ambitions, while the US is a fully fledged imperialist with authoritarian ambitions. They both deserve hate, but for different aspects

I hate the US and Russia equally

If I were a native or neighbor of one, I might hate it more than the other, merely due to proximity.

I dont think anyone is saying we should invade Russia.

I seem to recall a bunch of anti-Russia hawks saying exactly this when the invasion happened in '21. The US, the EU, the rest of the Asiatic continent - they were all told they needed to team up and crush Russia, once and for all.

Now that the US has collapsed into a fascist regime marginally sympathetic to Russian white nationalism, the Keyboard Commandos of Reddit don't really expect Cheeto Mussolini Von Putinkisser to take the fight to Moscow.

But I've also heard (1) Putin is senile / infirm / on death's door and regime change in Russia will come any day now and (2) The Russian military is absolutely on the brink of collapse, so another year or ten of drone skirmishes will be the end of the entire Russian armed forces with a bit of patience. Just a few hundred more billion to Ukraine will be the end of the Russian army absolutely for certain guaranteed. So we never really needed to invade directly, just finance an endless parade of mercenaries to get the job done.