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William J. Broad

William J. Broad is a science journalist and senior writer. He joined The New York Times in 1983, and has shared two Pulitzer Prizes with his colleagues, as well as an Emmy Award and a DuPont Award. He tweets @WilliamJBroad

Articles

William J. Broad: Ukraine gave up a giant nuclear arsenal 30 years ago. Today there are regrets

by William J. Broad
At the end of the Cold War, the third largest nuclear power on earth was not Britain, France or China. It was Ukraine. The Soviet collapse, a slow-motion downfall that culminated in December 1991, resulted in the newly independent Ukraine inheriting roughly 5,000 nuclear arms that Moscow had stationed on its soil. Underground silos on its military bases held long-range missiles that carried up to 10 thermonuclear warheads, each far stronger than the bomb that leveled Hiroshima. Only Russia and t