Europe is not even a geographical continent, its just one part of the Eurasian continent.
Which means the majority of Europe/Asia distinctions are drawn around economic, cultural and particularly political borders, none of which are natural but to a degree rather arbitrarily defined by humans depending on their particular agenda.
In that context "othering", up to a scale of denying whole nation states their geographical location and cultural influences, has never lead to better and more peaceful relations, quite the opposite.
I once heard this stressed very strongly, from a historical, cultural, and political perspective.
Russia is not European.
If one considers the mindset which allowed this war to happen, and the politics, the fascism, this seems quite true.