"The chance of them getting their nuclear weapons back is somewhere between slim and none," Keith Kellogg, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia said.
"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," President Zelensky said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Foglio.
Zelensky said Ukraine was pressured into signing the Budapest Memorandum, and those who came up with the agreement should be jailed.
Around half of the respondents said they would support the development of nuclear weapons even at the price of losing Western aid and coming under sanctions.
Zelensky added that effective guarantees are currently needed for Ukraine's security, namely "real alliances and a real security foundation within the country," as well as "weapons that enable defense and deterrence of the enemy."
On Dec. 5, 1994, Ukraine had signed a set of political agreements that would guarantee the country's sovereignty and independence in return for accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Signed in Budapest, the memorandum would lay grounds for Ukraine to dispose of its nuclear arsenal
The provision of HAWK, NASAMS, and IRIS-T batteries will help avert blackouts, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said as Ukraine braces for fresh attacks in the third winter of the full-scale war.
"We officially refute the insinuations of unnamed sources in the Bild publication regarding Ukraine's alleged plans to develop weapons of mass destruction."
Key developments on Oct. 17: * Zelensky says he told Trump that either Ukraine will join NATO or pursue nuclear weapons * Zelensky walks back earlier comments on Ukraine's possible plan to obtain nuclear weapons * 'First step to World War' — North Korea preparing 10,000 soldiers to join Russia's war, Zelensky confirms
"We never spoke about...that we are preparing to create nuclear weapons or something like this," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, which will serve as protection, or it must be part of some kind of alliance. Apart from NATO, we do not know of such an effective alliance," President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had told Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
A new bilateral security agreement between Kyiv and London is getting mixed grades in Ukraine. Signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Jan. 12, the 16-page document spells out both countries’ intentions to work together on strengthening Ukraine’s military, defense industry, infrastructure, maritime
When the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty in July 1990 to gain greater rights and freedoms within the Soviet Union, ridding the country of its nuclear weapons was one of its top priorities. Ukraine had just suffered enormously from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant accident in
“I feel a personal stake because I got them (Ukraine) to agree to give up their nuclear weapons. And none of them believe that Russia would have pulled this stunt if Ukraine still had their weapons,” Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said in an interview with RTÉ.
Ukraine is seeking security guarantees that are stronger than NATO's Article 5, David Arakhamia, the leader of President Volodymyr Zelensky's faction in the parliament and head of the Ukrainian delegation during the ongoing peace negotiations with Russia, said on March 29. Arakhamia was speaking following a round of peace talks
On 5 December 1994, at an OSCE conference in Budapest, Ukraine, the United States of America, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed a Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
If Ukraine doesn’t receive actual security guarantees from the signatories – the U.S., the U.K. and Russia – all provisions of the 1994 agreement may be considered void. Within the agreement, Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal.
Ukraine, a European nation of 41 million, has been at the mercy of geopolitical forces far more than most similarly sized countries on the continent. The country is currently making global headlines due to Russia’s build-up of 122,000 troops on its borders, seemingly ready to launch an invasion.
(Updated: )
