I may be wrong, but that's been my understanding for a
long time. (I looked it up, and Russia developed their
nuclear weapon four years after we did LINK)
Russian leaders have talked about Moldova, Poland, Latvia,
Estonia, Finland, and Sweden, in terms it talked about
the Ukraine before invading.
IMO < Russia took actions that reminded me of Hitler's
moves at the start of WWII.
Making the Ukraine a hard target to excel in, was a wise
thing to do, again > IMO.
Yes $100 billion is a lot of money. It is still only
0.3225% of our current national debt, but pales in light
of what a WWIII might cost the United States to wage.
Using the illegal immigration issue to game the funds we
are expending in the Ukraine forgets some major facts. We
did not reduce funding, staffing, or equipment and
infrastructure on controlling the border. Biden simply
changed our policies. "Let them in!"
So, we are not talking about $100 Billion per year.
Well, at least not yet.
Also... While there's no way to put an exact $$ figure on it, very little of what we have sent in the way of arms is our best or recent "stuff". Take those tanks for example. We have at least 3500 M1 / M1A1 tanks mothballed. We might eventually sell some, but likely most will end up scrapped or used in a WWIII but-somehow-stays-conventional scenario against Russia. (This assumes we are not stupid enough to try to invade mainland China!) They will be replaced by the Abrams X or something even more advanced...
So, what is an old M1A1 really worth? Half of its original cost and adjust for inflation? I doubt that's the figure that goes into a proud US announcement of another aid package to Ukraine.
You did an excellent analysis concerning Ukraine, and Russias appetite for land-grabbing many other European free nations.
And yes, Biden just changed policies concerning the border.
It could be changed back to normalcy with someone like Trump in the White House.