Ukraine’s Leader Expresses Regret Over Lack of Nuclear Deterrent
In an interview with US podcaster Lex Fridman, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed regret over Ukraine not having a nuclear deterrent to effectively deter Moscow.
During the three-hour conversation, which was published on Sunday, Fridman mentioned his “dream” of having Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the designated US President Donald Trump all in the same room to settle the conflict.
When asked about security guarantees that could satisfy both Ukraine and Russia, Zelensky began to lament how Western “partners” and “security guarantors” had betrayed Ukraine in the past.
“The Ukraine had security guarantees. The Budapest Memorandum and the nuclear weapons are the security guarantees that Ukraine had. Ukraine had nuclear weapons. I don’t want to describe it as good or bad. The fact that we don’t have them now is bad” Zelensky said.
Following the Soviet collapse, about 1,700 nuclear warheads were still on Ukrainian territory. Although Ukraine was technically the third-largest nuclear power, the weapons remained under Russian operational control. The current government in Kiev has repeatedly claimed that Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in 1994 as part of the Budapest Memorandum in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the UK, and the US.
“The Budapest Memorandum, the nuclear weapons, that was it, what we had. Ukraine used them for protection. This doesn’t mean that someone attacked us. This also doesn’t mean that we would have used them. We had this possibility. That was our security guarantee” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader criticized the US, the UK, and other nuclear powers for ignoring Kiev’s repeated requests to protect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
“They didn’t give a damn about it” Zelensky said in Russian, despite his efforts to avoid using the language during the interview.
“Russia didn’t care, just like all the other security guarantors. None of them cared even a little bit about this country, these people, these security guarantees, and so on” he added.
Zelensky has repeatedly accused Russia of violating the Budapest Memorandum and regrets that his country gave up its nuclear weapons. In early 2022, before Russia launched its offensive, he stated that Kiev had “every right” to reconsider this decision. In October, he said there were only two ways to ensure Ukraine’s security: joining NATO or acquiring nuclear weapons.
Russia argues that Ukraine never had nuclear weapons, as the Soviet infrastructure rightfully belonged to Moscow. Russian officials have repeatedly stated that the 1994 document was undermined by NATO’s eastward expansion, which threatened Moscow’s vital security interests, and that it was the US that disrespected the memorandum by supporting the 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev.