The U.S. should provide Ukraine with an alternative security guarantee, such as nuclear weapons, if it is not ready to accept the country into NATO, President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested in an interview with U.K. journalist Piers Morgan published on Feb. 4.
"What kind of support package, what kind of missiles? Will they give us nuclear weapons? Then let them give us nuclear weapons," the president said when talking about possible guarantees instead of quick NATO entry.
Zelensky acknowledged that Ukraine's NATO accession could be delayed "for years or decades," raising the question of how the country would defend itself.
Ukraine applied to join NATO at the outset of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 but has yet to receive an official invitation. Despite an allied pledge last year that Kyiv's path to membership is "irreversible," countries such as the U.S., Germany, Hungary, and Slovakia continue to resist its entry.
Zelensky argued that while the West can supply Ukraine with missiles to deter Russia, their ability to stop Russian nuclear weapons is "a rhetorical question."
"Let's do this: return (to) us nuclear weapons; give us missile systems; help us finance a million-strong army; or deploy your contingents in parts of our country where we want stability so that people feel safe," Zelensky said, outlining hypothetical alternatives.
Abbey Fenbert
The Ukrainian president also pointed to the contradiction in Russia's justification for its invasion.
"Putin invaded because he was afraid that we would become NATO members. Well, we are not NATO members. Get out of our land," he said.
The comments come after Zelensky criticized Ukraine's 1990s decision to give up its nuclear weapons without receiving robust security guarantees in return.
Under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine relinquished the Soviet-era nuclear arsenal stationed on its territory and joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
In exchange, the U.S., U.K., and Russia provided security assurances. Twenty years later, Russia occupied Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine. Thirty years on, it is waging a full-scale war against Ukraine.
The invasion has reignited discussions over whether Ukraine should develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent, though Kyiv maintains that NATO membership remains the best possible security guarantee and said it has no plans for building a new nuclear arsenal.
As U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for negotiations to end the war this year, Russia has outlined that a complete ban on Ukraine's NATO accession is one of its key demands.
Abbey Fenbert
(Updated: )
