Zelensky did not rule out a review of Ukraine's refusal of nuclear weapons

The speech was broadcast on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian leader's office.

“I am initiating consultations within the framework of the Budapest Memorandum.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs was instructed to convene them,” Zelensky said.

According to him, “if the consultations do not take place again or if there are no guarantees of security for our country as a result of them, Ukraine will have every right to believe that the Budapest Memorandum does not work, and all package decisions of 1994 will be called into question.”

The Budapest Memorandum, signed by Russia, the United States and Great Britain on December 5, 1994, provides for guarantees of the security and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

In turn, Kiev guarantees the renunciation of nuclear weapons. 

In July 2021, the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arakhamia, expressed the opinion on the Ukraine 24 TV channel that if Ukraine retained nuclear weapons, it could “blackmail the whole world.”

Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk also expressed the opinion that if Ukraine is not granted NATO membership, then the country may “think about nuclear status again.”