You can't have it both ways. It's one or the other. And because Ukraine is a corrupt country, why should U.S. taxpayers be responsible for continuing to support a corrupt country? Isn't there enough corruption in this country to keep you happy?
If Ukraine was such a big deal 30 years ago, why didn't NATO bring her in, when she willingly gave up her nukes? The U.S., U.K., and Russia were part of that deal. Why did Bill Clinton push for Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan to sign onto the memorandum? The Cold War was over by then. We already know how much Ukraine got out of the deal. How much did Belarus get? Kazakhstan? How much did Russia get out of the deal? The U.K.? And the memorandum was never ratified since its inception, and is not enforceable internationally. End of story. It's just a nice excuse for fighting another proxy war with Russia, wasting lives, and American tax dollars for a war that will never be won by anyone. That's the way it is with proxy wars. There are never any final victories...just negotiations to end the hostilities.
Certainly even before Poland???
Czechia, Hungary and Poland were invited to begin accession talks at the Alliance’s Madrid Summit in 1997 and on 12 March 1999 they became the first former members of the Warsaw Pact to join NATO