President Volodymyr Zelensky on Jan. 25 criticized Ukraine's decision to give up its nuclear weapons in the 1990s without receiving strong security guarantees in return.
Ukraine relinquished the Soviet-era nuclear arms stationed on its territory under the Budapest Memorandum signed in 1994. The deal saw Kyiv join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and receive security guarantees from great powers, namely the U.S., the U.K., and Russia.
"In my opinion, it should not have been done, based on the fact that we were attacked," Zelensky said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Foglio released on Jan. 27.
Twenty years after signing the agreement, Russia launched a war against Ukraine, occupying Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine. Thirty years in, Russia is now actively conducting a full-scale offensive against Ukraine.
"It was necessary to exchange (nuclear arms) for real security guarantees, and at the time, that was only NATO. And to be honest, today, it is only NATO," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president commented that Ukraine agreed to give up on nuclear arms under pressure from "larger economies" like the U.S. and Russia. Despite this, Ukraine should have refused at the time, he added.
"If I were to exchange nuclear weapons, I would exchange them for something very strong that can actually stop any aggressor, regardless of its greatness, its territory, its army. And this would be a strong army and... a security bloc," Zelensky noted.
"Therefore, I believe that it was stupid, absolutely stupid, and illogical." This echoes Zelensky's comments from earlier this month when he said that those behind the agreement should be "jailed."
The president suggested that Ukraine could obtain security guarantees similar to those Israel receives from the U.S., saying such proposals should be examined "in detail."
"This is not NATO, but it's on the way to NATO," he added. "Israel receives technology, air defense, money."
The outbreak of the full-scale invasion sparked discussions on whether Ukraine should again develop new nuclear weapons as a deterrent against Russian aggression. The Ukrainian leadership denied any such plans and said that NATO membership is the best possible security guarantee.
Ukraine has applied to join NATO at the outbreak of the full-scale invasion in 2022 but is yet to receive an official invitation. Despite an allied pledge from last year that Kyiv's path toward membership is "irreversible," Zelensky pointed to continued resistance to Ukraine's entry from countries like the U.S., Germany, Hungary, and Slovakia.
As U.S. Donald Trump pushes for negotiations to end the war this year, Russia said that a full ban on Ukraine's NATO accession is one of its key demands for resolving the conflict.
Kateryna Hodunova
(Updated: )
