This reasoning/process is dehumanisation, and is the secret sauce in getting people to commit atrocities against other people. No matter how well-intentioned you yourself might be, please do not perpetuate dehumanising language.
1. There is no war, there is a special operation. 2. The special operation is carried out to help eliminate the Nazis in Donbass, who tortured eastern Ukrainians for 8 years
It's hard to step into the shoes of the average Russian when you have access to information. Truth be told, access to alternative media began to end more than 10 years ago, and has only accelerated over time.
The majority in any country always consumes the mainstream media available in that country. In Russia, there is only one point of view to choose from.
Only 10-30% of the population knows how to bypass blockages and know where to look for information.
there are a lot of reasons for that. There is really something non-human in Russians attacking Ukrainians. Even for me, a Russian well familiar with history and overall situation there, it is still hard to believe that Russians so easily went into that war. That makes anybody naturally question their existing perception of what Russians really is, and that is where the "xeno" feeling comes from.
Just look how pretty much whole Russia celebrates the "Z" symbol of the invasion
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/09/letter-z-rus...
https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1500506408101593094
There is no meaningful difference between Germans celebrating swastika and their leader in 1939 and Russians celebrating "Z" and their leader in 2022. Europe's reaction isn't surprising here.