Three decades after Ukraine agreed to give up its atomic weapons, the country’s president says Kyiv is prepared to become a nuclear power again should it not be granted accession to NATO.
“Let them give us nuclear weapons. Will they give us the missiles in the quantities that we can stop Russia? And I’m not sure of that, but I think it would help,” Volodymyr Zelensky told Piers Morgan in an interview to be broadcast Tuesday night.
“Otherwise, what missiles can stop Russia’s nuclear missiles?” the Ukrainian president asked. “That is a rhetorical question.”
Under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine agreed to give up nuclear weapons it had inherited from the former Soviet Union. In exchange, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States agreed not to use military force or economic coercion against Ukraine unless in self-defense “or otherwise in accordance with the” United Nations charter.
In the 30 years and two months since the agreement was signed, Russia has invaded Ukraine twice — killing or injuring hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians over the past three years alone.
Ukraine first applied for NATO membership in 2008. In that period, the Atlantic alliance has grown from 26 nations to 32 with the additions of Albania, Croatia, Finland, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Sweden.
“NATO is not today, but some time in the future,” Zelensky told Morgan. “Then all this for us, when we go to NATO, all this time, when we are waiting, no matter how long it takes, and unfortunately, it does not depend on us.
“If this process is protracted for years or decades, not because of us but because of partners, then we have an absolutely just question, ‘What will be defending us against this evil for this whole time? On this whole path?’”
Ukraine’s president then suggested the West “do it the following way: Give us back nuclear arms. Give us missile systems. Partners, help us finance the one million[-strong] army. Move your contingent onto the parts of our state, where we want the stability of the situation, so that the people have tranquility.”
Throughout the war, Zelensky has said Ukraine is willing to be on the front lines of protecting the West from Russian aggression — but needs military aid to do so.
In this way, a senior Ukrainian intelligence official told The Post, Kyiv could fight without committing NATO members to physically come to its defense
Though Russia’s military — and economy — have taken severe blows since the invasion began in February 2022, the official said Kyiv needs such a dramatic security guarantee to ensure Moscow does not continue its invasion or move on to attacking other neighbors — many of whom, such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, are NATO members and would require the assistance of troops on the ground.
“Russia is not weak, Russia is not weak. Russia has millions of people — Russia can mobilize 8 million [more] people, and Russia has North Korean [troops,]” the source said.
A Ukrainian military leader suggested Zelensky may be willing to cede some Russia-controlled Ukrainian territory in exchange for either NATO membership or nuclear rearmament for Kyiv as part of a deal to end the war.
“I think [Zelensky] 100% understands the situation, and he is doing this proposition,” he said. “Even if Zelensky has to give up territory, he’s in that spot right now.
“Nuclear weapons would deter Russia.”
This official said Ukraine would discuss the options with the Trump White House, especially special envoy Gen. Keith Kellogg.
“If Ukrainians go to Kellogg and say, ‘Give us tanks, give us money, give us all the weapons, Kellogg won’t like that,” he said. “They have to give a direct strategy — like, ‘If you do this, Russia will fall.’”
