President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky did not rule out that Kiev could reconsider its decision to abandon nuclear weapons.

He stated this during his speech at the Munich Security Conference.

“Since 2014, Ukraine has tried three times to convene consultations of the guarantor states of the Budapest Memorandum.

Three times, unsuccessfully.

Today Ukraine will do it for the fourth time.

It's my first time as president.

But both Ukraine and I are doing this for the last time.

I initiate consultations within the framework of the Budapest Memorandum.

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

According to him, if these consultations do not take place again or if security guarantees for Ukraine are not developed based on their results, Kiev “will have every right to believe that the Budapest Memorandum does not work and all the 1994 package decisions are called into question.”

Zelensky also proposed convening a summit of permanent members of the UN Security Council with the participation of Ukraine, Germany and Turkey in the coming weeks in order to develop "new, effective security guarantees for Ukraine."

“Guarantees today, as long as we are not a member of the defense alliance.

And in fact, we are in a gray zone - in a vacuum in the field of security.

What else can we do now?

Continue to effectively support Ukraine and its defense capability.

Providing Ukraine with a clear European perspective, existing support tools for candidate countries, a clear and visible time frame for joining the alliance,” the Ukrainian leader said. 

He also called on the West to create a Sustainability and Renewal Fund for Ukraine, a lend-lease program, the supply of the latest weapons, equipment, and equipment for the Ukrainian army, "defending the whole of Europe."

In addition, Zelensky called for “developing an effective package of preventive sanctions to deter aggression”, as well as guaranteeing Ukraine’s energy security, ensuring its integration into the EU energy market, when Nord Stream 2, in his words, is “used as a weapon” .

“All these questions require answers.

And so far, instead of them - silence.

And as long as there is silence, there will be no silence in the east of our state.

That is, in Europe.

That is, all over the world.

I hope the whole world finally understands this, Europe understands, ”he said.

Apple of discord

Recall that the Budapest Memorandum was signed in December 1994 by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Great Britain and the United States.

This document provides for guarantees of the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state in exchange for Kiev's renunciation of nuclear weapons and its accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

It is worth noting that at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine possessed the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

According to Ukrainian media, at least 900 warheads, 165 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) PC-18 (UR-100N UTTH "Stiletto") and PC-22 (RT-23 UTTH "Molodets") remained on the territory of the republic.

In addition, Ukraine possessed significant stockpiles of tactical nuclear weapons and hundreds of X-22 long-range supersonic cruise missiles.

At the same time, the Budapest Memorandum was never ratified by any of the countries that signed it.

However, Kiev has repeatedly accused Moscow of non-compliance with the terms of the document, arguing that the Russian Federation allegedly violated the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and also raised the issue of returning its nuclear status.

Russia and Great Britain urged to comply with the Budapest Memorandum.

Moscow, in turn, has repeatedly rejected such claims.

So, on February 10, 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, stressed that the Budapest Memorandum "provided security guarantees to Ukraine as a non-nuclear state."

  • Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov

  • © Maxim Shemetov/Pool Photo via AP

“This memorandum did not oblige Russia, the UK or the US to recognize the unconstitutional coup d'état carried out by neo-Nazis and ultra-radicals in February 2014.

The Budapest Memorandum was accompanied by a Declaration, which, in addition to this trio: Russia, the United States and Great Britain, was also signed by Ukraine and France.

It requires all participants, including Ukraine, not to allow any violation of the founding principles of the OSCE, including (highlighted) the principle of respect for the rights of national minorities.

Ukraine did not give a damn about all this, ”Lavrov stated.

Germany also believes that the Budapest Memorandum does not provide for legal obligations.

In particular, the FRG Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen announced this the other day.

Soviet legacy

According to analysts, as of 1991, Ukraine, which gained independence, inherited 25-30% of the production capacity of the military-industrial complex of the Soviet Union.


In particular, more than 100 enterprises of the Soviet rocket and space industry remained on the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR.

One of the key ones was the Yuzhnoye State Design Bureau, which during the Soviet era was working on complexes with ground-based ballistic missiles.

Another state-owned enterprise, the A. M. Makarov Southern Machine-Building Plant Production Association (Yuzhmash), was engaged in mass production of missiles in the Soviet era.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, Yuzhmash, together with Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, developed and put into production the R-36M, R-36M UTTKh heavy-class ICBMs and the MR-UR-100, MR-UR-100 UTTKh light-class ICBMs with increased survivability and the ability to hit multiple targets, as well as the 15A11 command missile of the Perimeter system.

As for the nuclear industry of Ukraine, in Soviet times it was represented by five nuclear power plants, which included 16 reactors.

Now there are four nuclear power plants operating on Ukrainian territory, which are operated by the Energoatom company - Rivne, Zaporozhye, Khmelnytsky and South-Ukrainian, operating fifteen power units.

At the same time, the republic has no opportunities for independent enrichment of uranium and the production of nuclear fuel.

But at the same time, Ukraine has explored uranium deposits and mines for its extraction.

This is done by the Vostochny Mining and Processing Plant (VostGOK), established in 1951, which also processes uranium ore.

Currently, VostGOK has two mines in operation and one under construction, as well as a uranium processing complex.

According to experts,

At the same time, the uranium concentrate produced by VostGOK is exported to the Russian Federation, where TVEL JSC makes nuclear fuel from it.

As analysts recall, after the 2014 coup d'état, the nuclear industry of the republic is experiencing serious problems - the same VostGOK stopped work more than once due to technical problems and funding difficulties.

"Attract the attention of the West"

According to experts and sources in the political circles of Ukraine interviewed by RT, Vladimir Zelensky, having initiated consultations of the guarantor states of the Budapest Memorandum and not excluding the revision of Ukraine's refusal of nuclear weapons, intends to "blackmail the West."

“Western partners of Kiev are escalating the situation, which negatively affects the economy.

Foreign airlines stop flights, embassies are hastily evacuated, and so on.

Therefore, Zelensky makes such loud statements, because the country needs real help, ”a RT source in the office of the President of Ukraine said.

In turn, Pavel Feldman, deputy director of the RUDN Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts, suggested that Ukraine needs consultations on the Budapest Memorandum in order to threaten to start nuclear development "to knock material support, lethal weapons and preventive sanctions against Russia out of the West."

“The topic of Ukraine’s nuclear weapons today is rather an excuse with which Kiev is trying to once again attract the attention of the West, enlist its real support, and not handouts and attempts to pay off.

Now Kiev needs to return the attention of Western countries, and since this cannot be done peacefully, only blackmail and threats remain, ”Feldman said in an interview with RT.

At the same time, he did not rule out that Kiev would make an attempt to create nuclear weapons.

“Ukraine in the current situation can rush to extremes.

It remains a country with nuclear power facilities, and Kiev has the ability to create a “dirty” nuclear bomb, which will also be easy to drop from an airplane, since the air force is still there, although it is not in the best condition. .

There also remain scientists who were engaged in Soviet times in nuclear energy and nuclear technologies in the military sphere, enterprises that, although they fell into decay, but with proper funding can be converted and modernized for the production of nuclear weapons, ”the expert noted.

However, neither Moscow, nor London, nor Washington, who signed the Budapest Memorandum, are interested in Ukraine's nuclear weapons, Feldman stressed.

“No one wants to include such an unpredictable, conflict-prone state as Ukraine into the nuclear club.

No one knows how she will eventually behave: today Ukraine calls Russia its main adversary, and tomorrow Kiev will be disappointed in its Western partners and decide to take revenge, possibly using the created “dirty” nuclear weapons, ”the analyst argues.

As Viktor Vodolatsky, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, stressed in an interview with RT, commenting on Zelensky’s statements, Ukraine’s nuclear status will never be revised, “especially during a period of time when inadequate people are in power” .

According to him, Kiev can use a "dirty" nuclear bomb "anywhere in the world", so the West will not allow Ukraine to have such weapons in its arsenal.

“Naturally, any sane person, even in America, will never agree to this ... Nuclear weapons, I repeat, no one will ever allow them,” Vodolatsky said.

At the same time, sources and experts interviewed by RT believe that Kiev will not have enough economic and technological capabilities to create a “clean” nuclear weapon.

“It's very expensive, the Kiev authorities simply don't have the money for it.

At the same time, there are enough specialists in Ukraine who know in principle how everything can be organized.

The whole question is financial opportunities and technologies, ”said Alexander Burdakov, adviser to the director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in a conversation with RT.

That Ukraine will succeed in creating "clean" nuclear weapons, the RT source in the country's Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry also doubts.

“This is a billion-dollar investment and decades of work.

In Ukraine, there are deposits of natural uranium, but there is no capacity for its enrichment.

We should not forget that even if attempts are made to create nuclear weapons, sanctions will be imposed against Ukraine,” he said.

In turn, an RT source in the Batkivshchyna party said that the creation of nuclear weapons could pose a danger to Ukraine itself.

“Who guarantees that it will be properly stored or illegally sold to third countries?

You can’t even talk about the level of corruption in the country – everyone knows about it,” he said.