Ukraine regaining nuclear weapons 'not going to happen,' Trump's envoy Kellogg says
Keith Kellogg, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, dismissed the possibility of Ukraine regaining nuclear power status in an interview with Fox News on Feb. 6.
"The chance of them getting their nuclear weapons back is somewhere between slim and none," Kellogg said. "Let's be honest about it, we both know that's not going to happen."
His remarks follow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent comments suggesting that if Ukraine's NATO accession remains blocked, the U.S. should provide an alternative security guarantee, including nuclear weapons.
"The president said we're a government of common sense," Kellogg added. "When someone suggests that, consider the outcome or potential — use your common sense."
Zelensky acknowledged that gaining NATO membership could take "years or decades" and raised concerns about how Ukraine would defend itself in the meantime.
Ukraine formally applied to join NATO at the onset of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 but has yet to receive an invitation, with countries such as the U.S., Germany, Hungary, and Slovakia resisting its entry.
The Kyiv Independent news deskAs Trump pushes for negotiations to end the war , Russia has made a complete ban on Ukraine's NATO accession one of its core demands.
Ukraine relinquished its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, joining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in exchange for security assurances from the U.S., U.K., and Russia.
Moscow later violated the agreement by occupying Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014 and launching a full-scale invasion in 2022.
While the war has renewed discussions on whether Ukraine should rebuild its nuclear deterrent, Kyiv maintains that NATO membership remains its best security guarantee and has no plans to develop nuclear weapons.
Kellogg will attend the Munich Security Conference from Feb. 14 to 16, where he will meet with world leaders to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine and assess positions on negotiations.
"As you develop the plans to end this carnage, you have to make sure that you've got the feel of everybody in play," Kellogg said.
"Once we get to have these face-to-face discussions, then you can really kind of work … on concessions."
Tim Zadorozhnyy
