To be fair, not too many could predict that Ukraine would still be there 2 weeks in. And Afghanistan was fresh in mind, or South Vietnam.

Production at the rates that Ukraine uses, needs and will need when they go back on offence isn't something that can be kept up during peacetime, nor maintaining the unused capacity to do it when there is not such war or buyers.

Ukraine was pretty bad, but not worse than Russia. After all, they were totally immersed in the USSR and its Russian system of corruption. They've been trying to lift themselves out of that hole after the USSR collapsed and they regained independence. And for a long time with little progress, since the corruption was deep, widespread and permeated the systems of government and power.

But they were trying, and making some progress. That's even one of the reasons Russia invaded. Russia was losing the usual levers of control.

For sure there is still plenty of corrupted people and systems in Ukraine, but they are (mostly) fighting for their lives like everyone else. To use the foreign aid well, to keep it coming, to join the EU as soon as possible, and to rebuild their country as fast as possible are big incentives to fight corruption now and going forward.