

In 2014 most of the west assumed Ukraine was even more corrupt than Russia. We thought Russia had a functional corruption where the top brass got rich but they kept the military in more or less fighting shape, (similar to the US. The contractors get rich but the military can still fight like hell) but Ukraine they stole everything. The Ukrainian response to the little green men in the donbas supported this narrative. Western news outlets were reporting food drives by Ukrainian grandmothers to supply the troops because the central government under (Litvenyanko? The guy before Zelenski) was too busy building a palace on a lake to feed the soldiers.
We would have assumed any arms sent to Ukraine would be sold to African warlords. We only found out in 2022 that the Ukrainians had grit and the Russians stole everything not nailed down.
Obama fucked up, should have taken the threat far more seriously. Biden fucked up, and should have supported Ukraine more than he did.
Trump has embarrassed Zelensky and Ukraine on multiple occasions but he has supported them more in some ways by allowing them to use Western weapons with their own discretion even if he has not put up cash.