Trump tried to help, but the Ukrainian wants to fight. It’s very obvious and keep getting money and keeping some of it.
Trump tried to help alright - help himself and his donors. Who was going to benefit the most from the agreement in place ? Guarantee it’s not the average taxpayer here - who has financed Biden’s handouts.
Ukraine wants to defend what they have - including a free flow of $$. How much cash do you think Ukrainian leaders were skimming from USAid - vs how much do you think they were skimming from exports to all of Western Europe from their exports that they no longer can sell thanks to a Russian invasion of their country.
People like to simplify so that they can understand- but simple fact is any money being skimmed from US aid likely is a fraction of what they were making prior to the invasion in the capital markets. Given the choice - Ukraine would happily take peace over handouts - otherwise they wouldn’t even come close to entertaining the agreed on deal to give minerals to US companies.
Any smart criminal knows it’s way more profitable to take a small slice of a large pie continuously than stealing a small pie once. Likewise - the only reason we give a shit about Ukraine is if that domino falls - we have the dual edged sword of a weakened economy in Western Europe hurting our economic interest AND a revitalized Russia gaining power and going from a single sector economy (oil) to a much broader economy capable of funding their armies and using those armies to threaten to destabilize things anywhere/anytime to gain leverage.