President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he told Donald Trump it was either to join NATO or build nuclear weapons.
The statement marks the first time since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that President Zelenskiy has directly addressed the possibility of Ukraine returning to a nuclear state.
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President Zelenskiy told the European Council in Brussels on Thursday that Ukraine’s answer to Russian aggression is either to restore its nuclear capabilities or join NATO, and Ukraine is choosing the latter, US Republicans said. He said he had informed the presidential candidates.
It is unclear when Zelensky and Trump’s conversation took place.
President Zelenskiy also mentioned the Budapest Memorandum in his speech. The memorandum was a 1990s security agreement in which Kiev would give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees from the United States, Britain, and Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it was not canceled when Moscow invaded.
“Which nuclear-armed states suffered? No one but Ukraine … Who gave up their nuclear weapons? All? No, only Ukraine … Who is fighting today ?Ukraine,” Zelenskiy told the European Council.
He then referred to his alleged conversation with President Trump.
“So, as I said in my conversation with Donald Trump, this is our situation,” Zelenskiy added.
“What exit do we have? Either Ukraine has nuclear weapons, which will be a defense for our country, or we have to form some kind of alliance other than NATO. But today we have other NATO countries are not at war today. People are still alive in NATO countries. That’s why we don’t have nuclear weapons. Here’s why you choose it.
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Russia says it is already at “war” with the United States and Europe, working with Iran, North Korea and other rogue powers.
“And Donald Trump listened to me. He said you have a valid argument,” Zelenskiy said.
Until December 5, 1994, Ukraine was officially the third largest nuclear-armed state in the world.
Due to Ukraine’s strategic location during the Cold War, after the collapse of the Soviet Union it inherited a formidable nuclear arsenal along with Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
Its nuclear arsenal included nearly 1,700 strategic nuclear warheads, as well as a bomber fleet and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that rivaled most other nuclear powers at the time.
However, while Ukraine physically possessed the weapons and the expertise to develop and maintain them, Russia would not have been able to do so due to lack of resources. It is noteworthy that it was maintained.
One think tank reported that Ukraine “does not have uranium enrichment plants or fuel production facilities for nuclear power plants,” but before the 2022 invasion, “Ukraine’s uranium enrichment was exported to Russia for enrichment and fuel production.” However, it is possible that the country had facilities to enrich uranium or produce fuel for nuclear power plants. The knowledge base needed to restart the nuclear program if necessary.
