Ukraine’s President has hinted Kyiv will develop its own nuclear weapons if the country is refused membership of NATO.
Volodymyr Zelensky has been visiting Brussels to garner support for his “victory plan” as Ukraine comes under intense military pressure from Russia.
In a speech to European politicians, Zelensky presented an ultimatum to Western leaders and NATO.
“Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, which will serve as protection, or it must be part of some kind of alliance,” he said.
“Apart from Nato, we do not know of such an effective alliance.”
Ukraine gave up its arsenal of several thousand Soviet nuclear weapons in 1994 in exchange for security guarantees from the US, UK and Russia as enshrined in an agreement called the Budapest Memorandum.
That fatal decision is now seen as a catastrophic mistake by Kyiv, which is desperate to join the North Atlantic military alliance.
“Who gave up their nuclear weapons? All of them. Only Ukraine,” Zelensky reminded his audience. “Who is fighting today? Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian President said Donald Trump agreed it was a “fair argument” for Kyiv to rejoin the nuclear club when the two met during Zelensky’s recent visit to the US.
Nato membership for Ukraine is a key plank of Zelensky’s “victory plan,” which appeared to receive only lukewarm support from the Biden administration.
Ukraine has been promised Nato membership, but no fixed date has been agreed upon. One major problem for Western leaders is defining the line separating Ukraine and Russia.
Some have argued for a so-called West German model, whereby NATO would offer security guarantees for only those parts of Ukraine over which Kyiv exercises full control.
Russia has sought to raise the nuclear stakes in Ukraine on a number of occasions since the full-scale invasion.
Not only has Moscow threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons, but it has also accused Kyiv of plotting to use a “dirty bomb” – a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste.
In a post to his Telegram channel, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev accused Kyiv of “trying to create a dirty bomb.”
He said: “It has all the possibilities for this: raw materials, technology, specialists.
“And any Soviet-era laboratory will do for the production of a low-power charge. The clock is ticking.”
However, as usual, he failed to provide any concrete evidence to substantiate his allegations.
