The closer this gets to home, the more angry I get.
Here are a few salient facts people aren't aware of that they should know; before I begin though, nations enter into treaty relationships only with other sovereign nations. Russia's claim that Ukraine is part of Russia is nonsense; they recognized Ukraine's sovereignty in no fewer than 5 treaties before the current invasion.
1. In 1994 Ukraine signed a treaty with Russia known as the Budapest Memorandum. This treaty guaranteed Ukraine's security, and as a result Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons. The three powers that guaranteed Ukrainian security were the Russian Federation, the UK, and the US, and this treaty specifically prohibited using military force or economic pressure against Ukraine.
This treaty was violated by Russia, although, the US and UK haven't exactly followed through on their guarantees, limiting their reactions to sanctions.
2. In 1997, there was the Russo-Ukrainian Treaty, including the recognition of the inviolability of Ukraine's existing borders, and pledged other cooperation.
3. In 2009, Russia and the United States released a joint statement that the memorandum's security guarantee would still be in place following the START treaty.
4. These treaties were violated in 2014, when Russia subsumed the Crimea, and they were violated again in 2017's proxy war via so-called 'breakaway republics' began, and disguised and mercenary Russian troops began a shooting war. In addition, two additional treaties entered into by Russia in 2014 and 2015, Minsk I and Minsk II were violated by Russia immediately and in 2017.
5. All of these treaties and assurances by Russia were violated by Russia. There are significant parallels between this gradual dismemberment of Ukraine, and Germany's dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in 1938-9 in violation of the Munich Accords. Putin learned his lessons well, including the claim that ethnic Russians were being mistreated - a lie, and the very same pretext used against Czechoslovakia when Hitler claimed ethnic Germans were being mistreated. I guess there aren't all that many pretexts out there, because Putin couldn't think of anything original.
6. Under the terms of the Budapest Memorandum, the UK and the US have every right to assist Ukraine's defense of its territory,
and in fact, I'd suggest they have the obligation to do so. Additional signatories were China and France, though their responsibilities under the Budapest accord are lower.
7. In 2014 Ukraine got rid of a Russian-backed government that took orders from Moscow; this is when Russia chose to invade the Crimea. In 2015 and 2019, Democratic reform governments were elected, Zelensky's government being the more recent one.