Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has firmly denied any intentions to develop nuclear weapons, emphasizing the country’s commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The statement comes in response to a Times report that claimed Ukraine could develop a basic nuclear weapon within months.
According to the Times, citing a document prepared for Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, the country could potentially create a device similar to the one used on Nagasaki in 1945 if US military aid were to decrease. The report suggested Ukraine would need to rely on plutonium extracted from spent fuel rods from its nuclear reactors.
Ukraine has adopted the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a landmark international treaty that opened for signatures in 1968 and entered into force in 1970. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine inherited the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal but chose to give up these weapons.
On 5 December 1994, Ukraine signed the Budapest Memorandum with the US, UK, and Russia, where it received security assurances in exchange for giving up nuclear weapons
“Ukraine closely cooperates with the IAEA and is fully transparent to its monitoring, which excludes the use of nuclear materials for military purposes,” MFA spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi posted on X.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the nuclear question during an October press conference in Brussels, discussing his conversation with then-US presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“Ukraine needs either nuclear weapons or NATO membership for protection,” Zelenskyy said, emphasizing that Ukraine chooses NATO over nuclear weapons.
German publication BILD subsequently reported claims from an unnamed high-ranking Ukrainian official that Ukraine was seriously considering restoring its nuclear arsenal.
“We have the materials, we know. If ordered, we would need just a few weeks to obtain the first bomb,” the official allegedly said.
The Ukrainian MFA dismissed these reports as insinuations.
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