Dear President Donald Trump,

I was never taken in by your bluster and promises to "drain the swamp." Instead, I drove over three hours to the swing state of Pennsylvania last November to cast my vote for your archrival Hillary Clinton. I worried that you were a dangerous demagogue who had no respect for the constitution, or for America’s minorities. As an American journalist based in Kiev, Ukraine, I also feared that you would throw struggling Ukraine under the bus in your rush to seal your bromance with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, whom you repeatedly praised on the campaign trail.

Miraculously, however, Ukraine has survived — and even thrived — during the first year of your presidency. Amazing, isn’t it? Your government has remained committed to supporting Kiev in its war against Moscow and has reiterated the U.S.'s opposition to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. While you were busy bashing the "Fake News" media, both houses of Congress extended sanctions against Russia this past summer. They even tacked on additional penalties to punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential election, despite your vociferous denials of their involvement. It wasn’t some "400-pound man" doing the hacking, Mr. President; it was your bro Vlad’s Kremlin-paid trolls.

Sign the bill and any hopes of a reset with Russia and a bromance with Putin are off the table for the foreseeable future.

You’ve shown yourself to be a better friend to Ukraine than even your Putin-hating predecessor Obama. You delighted Kiev this year by appointing a special representative for Ukraine, responsible for supporting the country's transition to the West, and for ensuring the success of the Minsk peace accords. Your choice of Kurt Volker, a veteran diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to NATO, impressed even your harshest critics. He has been firm in labeling the conflict in the east as a "Russian-led war against Ukraine" and has repeatedly called for your government to provide Kiev with lethal defensive weapons and for Russia to withdraw its troops from the Donbas.

I met Volker briefly at the Yalta Economic Summit in Kiev this fall and was heartened by his eloquence and deep understanding of the situation on the ground in Ukraine. I don’t support your Twitter-happy presidency but when it comes to Ukraine, I find myself pleasantly surprised at your sometimes-excellent choice in minions. James "Mad Dog" Mattis, your secretary of defense, has also been a vocal supporter of the country, and of the strategic importance of the NATO alliance, which you had once dissed as "obsolete."

Even your secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has warmed to Ukraine — he has visited its capital Kiev in the past year — despite his initial reservations about the country’s importance to U.S. taxpayers.

As for you, Mr. President, I’m guessing that you personally don’t care much about Ukraine. You may have hobnobbed with more than one "Miss Ukraine" in the past, but otherwise, your knowledge of the country is "skin deep." You probably hold a grudge against the Ukrainian government for supporting "crooked Hillary" during the campaign, and helping the FBI indict your former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, for tax fraud.

We get it. You’d rather be going mano a mano with Putin on the sidelines of a G20 summit. It's his cash-rich oligarch friends, after all, who’ve propped up your failing real estate business all these years. You’d love to return the favor after becoming the most powerful man in the world with a big, beautiful "reset" with Russia, but your hands are tied because of the Russian witch hunt orchestrated by the Democrats.

It's not easy, is it? However, with the U.S. Senate recently approving $500 million in military aid and lethal defense weapons to Ukraine, and the bill now sitting on your desk in the Oval Office for approval, you’re facing one of the bigger tests of your presidency.

Sign the bill and any hopes of a reset with Russia and a bromance with Putin are off the table for the foreseeable future. You might even jeopardize your presidency if the Kremlin does indeed have some kompromat on you as the rumor mill claims.

But if you kill the bill, you risk a rebellion in your own party, with that turncoat John McCain leading the charge, wielding accusations that you're Putin’s toady.

It’s a tough decision. But here in Kiev, we understand. Whatever you decide Mr. President, you’ve already done a lot for the country.

In football terms, even though you’re most likely on Russia’s side, you’ve done the equivalent of scoring an own goal in the match against Ukraine.

The country was facing an existential crisis upon your election, but it's confident of America’s support. You have unwittingly become the new Ukraine's unlikely savior. Who would have imagined this happy scenario during last year’s presidential campaign, when the country shuddered in fear every time you openly praised their archenemy, Vladimir Putin.

There's something else you should know, too. If you sign that bill, you might just get my vote in 2020, and that of more than 1 million Ukrainian-Americans.

Vijai Maheshwari is a writer and entrepreneur based in Kiev. He tweets at @Vijaimaheshwari