Trump is asking for FAR too much payback from war-torn Ukraine

President Trump’s demand that Ukraine sign over a huge chunk of its economy as repayment for help fending off Russia is flat-out wrong.Period.The proposed contract, which reportedly hit Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s desk last week, demands half the country’s revenues from natural resources, ports and infrastructure indefinitely as payback for US military aid since the war began.That would quickly add up to countless billions more than we’ve given Ukraine; it’s a demand a victor might make of a country that started and lost a war, to teach a lesson.Indeed, as a share of GDP it looks to be harsher than what the victorious allies imposed on Germany in the Peace of Versailles after World War One.Hello: Ukraine is the victim of this war, not too mention our ally.And the president’s off-the-cuff remarks about Zelensky late Tuesday were wildly off-base: “You’ve been there for three years.

You should have ended it.You should have never started it.”He didn’t start it, and he’s had no chance to end it except by surrendering to the blood-soaked invader: Whatever negotiating tactics Trump cares to use, turning the truth completely upside down ought to be beneath him.A source within the Trump admin told The Post that the proposed deal was about “recouping hundreds of billions of dollars of American taxpayers’ money,” as if a bunch of Kyiv conmen have been picking Yankee pockets.But that’s a fantasy pushed by populist pundits (some all too happy to play Kremlin stooge).Yes, American-provided weapons were crucial to Ukrainians’ defense against the Russian invasion.

But sending aid to Kyiv has been a fantastic deal for Uncle Sam, not a blank check the beleaguered nation squandered.Of roughly $175 billion Washington has spent on the war, about $70 billion was put right back into our economy to build new weaponry to replace the older models we shipped to Kyiv — a boon for US defense manufacturers (and American factory workers).Much of th...