Ukraine was not Ukraine. The US(CIA) manipulated the vote in 2014 so that Ukraine lost Ukraine. Realizing that there was nothing they could do, millions of Ukrainians fled the country. Ukraine became a tool of the US.

The result was that Russia had to step in to protect their borders. Everybody knows that a good defense is a good offense, first. Russia took the Black Sea Corridor in 2022, and the US puppet has not been able to take it back. In fact, Ukraine lost some 700,000 troops trying. And the more they try, the more they lose.

Now that Trump is "IN" in the US, the US will stop trying further. The puppet Ukraine is down the tubes, and will likely revert to the Old Ukraine that it was before before the US stepped in. Or, more than likely Ukraine will revert to a new Russian State, because more than half of Ukrainians are Pro-Russian, even though they are not in the country right now.

The short answer is, Ukraine never had the strength, and was always at least more pro-Russian than pro-US.