Putin and Hitler

President Vladimir Putin of Russia appears to be planning a “false flag” operation as an excuse for invading Ukraine. This is reminiscent of Adolf Hitler’s false flag attack on Gleiwitz  in August 1939, which began World War II.
Hitler had taken power in Germany and began to build an authoritarian state into a totalitarian one.
Internally, he attacked those who were different ethnically, religiously, and ideologically. He accused those scapegoats of defiling and betraying The State.
Externally, Hitler kept seizing adjacent territory as a matter of restoring German imperial power. Then came the false flag attack pretext and Poland was invaded.
Putin is taking the same steps within and without Russia. He has taken Hitler’s playbook and made it his own.
How will we, the U.S. and the Free World, react to Putin’s moves - with direct action or appeasement?