Ukraine’s history since at least since 2004 is a story of betrayal. It was betrayed by Russia in 2014 and even more so in 2022, as Moscow trampled on the 1994 Budapest Memorandum that had guaranteed Ukraine’s territorial integrity. But Ukraine has also been betrayed by its supposed allies in the West.

The narrative of both the Biden administration and European Union governments held that, faced with the Russian invasion in February 2022, they were simply bystanders with no geopolitical or geoeconomic interests in Ukraine. They were just there to help a country under attack as it fought for its freedom. Military assistance and aid to the tune of at least €267 billion was said to respond to the United Nations Charter’s Article 51, which contains the right to self-defense against a war of aggression.

This notion of heartwarmingly principled and moral behavior — especially altruistic when coming all the way across the Atlantic — however soon faced a contradiction of double standards.