Unfortunately they did not make any advances without enormous amounts of funding from other countries and great loans from the IMF etc. Not to mention how much of that went into the pockts of their politicians and oligarchs. Which is “the familiar pattern” for Ukraine. It’s not surprising that everything in Ukraine still runs on bribes and theft....and perfectly acceptable as the way things work in Ukraine for most there.
As for their military it’s “foreign” built - they have not done that on their own. You make it sound like Ukraine is nothing more than an extension of the US. - which actually isn’t too far from the truth. And that I would never sign up to support. It’s not our responsibility to build nations.
As for weapons, although Ukraine now looks to the US and NATO for weapons, they like to adapt them to local practices and conditions. During the Soviet era, Ukraine developed a significant technical and industrial base. Indeed, until the current conflict with Russia, Ukraine supplied a lot of essential components to Russia's arms industry.
As for nation building, Ukraine is already a nation in the European model and looks to European neighbors for examples of what they want to become. Ukraine is not Afghanistan.