Democrat Hillary Clinton comes with numerous drawbacks, including the sleazy millions of dollars from Russia that her campaign chairman John Podesta was paid. The report “From Russia With Money” by the Government Accountability Institute (http://www.g-a-i.org/u/2016/08/Report-Skolkvovo-08012016.pdf) and the book “Clinton Cash” are places to learn about Bill and Hillary Clinton’s troubling webs of financial and moral conflicts of interest. Other stories include the Kyiv Post’s April 23, 2015, one headlined: “Will Clinton’s Pinchuk ties damage her candidacy?” detailing the millions that the Victor Pinchuk Foundation has contributed to the Clintons. And then there is The New York Times story of the same day, headlined: “Cash flowed to Clinton Foundation amid Russian uranium deal.”

Still, elections are about making hard choices. Clinton is the only sane option. She brings many strengths, not just baggage. For that reason, the Kyiv Post endorses her and condemns Republican Donald Trump, who as U.S. President Barack Obama correctly said is unfit to be president.

In the third year of Russia’s war against Ukraine, two unhappy realities persist: Too many people don’t understand the grim situation and even some who do are still willing to sell out Ukraine for the foolish belief that Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin is a reliable partner whose imperial aims, therefore, should be indulged. The Kremlin is out to destroy or undermine what it can in the West. The sooner that Western politicians understand this reality, the better.

Putin is a dictator with nuclear weapons who has committed massive human rights abuses against his own people, stoked a war in Syria to create millions of refugees and undermined global security – including with his three-year war against Ukraine, which has killed 10,000 people, among them the 298 civilians aboard the Malaysian Airlines flight on July 17, 2014. Russia deserves the heaviest sanction and censure from the West.

Trump is trying to get elected without releasing his tax returns, which could show the extent of his financial ties to Putin and/or Russian oligarchs. He has given so many versions of his relations with Putin and Russia that he has destroyed any credibility in his word. If he’s not on Russia’s payroll, he is certainly speaking like someone who is on the take as he mouths the Kremlin line.

His comments on July 31 to ABC-TV, in which he said that Russia had not invaded Ukraine and then tried to say that Crimeans wanted to join Russia, reveal ignorance and contempt for Ukraine. If Ukraine is a “mess,” as he claimed, the biggest reason is the Kremlin war to dismember and destabilize this nation.

BuzzFeed journalists on Aug. 2 rediscovered a Fox News interview in 2014 in which Trump praised Putin’s military takeover of Crimea. “And he really goes step by step by step, and you have to give him a lot of credit,” Trump said. Besides Ukraine, Trump threatens to sell out the Baltics and other Eastern European nations in the NATO alliance who have suffered from Russian repression and imperialism.

The New York Times on July 31 recounted the connections that Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had to Viktor Yanukovych, who betrayed the country to Kremlin interests before being overthrown in 2014. The newspaper also raised the prospect that Manafort is still working for such Yanukovych allies as ex-Yanukovych chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin. Manafort is not the only Trump aide with troubling ties to the Kremlin. Others include Carter Page, tied to Kremlin-controlled Gazprom, and Michael T. Flynn, who sat with Putin at a gala dinner in 2015 to celebrate the Russia Today TV propaganda outlet.

The U.S. and its Western allies have not acted strongly in getting Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine. If they had, neither Russia nor Trump may be such strong threats today. Further, Obama made a big mistake in not visiting Ukraine while in office, even as he plans to go to tiny Laos in September.

The U.S. has at least been strong on principle: That America will never recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, that Russia must end its war and that America is committed to defending NATO allies. These principles should be immutable. Trump threatens to destroy global security with his affection for dictators like Putin who engage in military conquest abroad and who crack down on dissent at home.

Let’s hope Trump faces a historic landslide loss on Nov. 8.