Zelensky's threat: Ukrainian nuclear weapons if we are not allowed to join NATO

Published 19 October 2024 at 11.48

Foreign. Ukraine will develop its own nuclear weapons if the country is not admitted to the NATO military alliance. This is what the country's President Volodymyr Zelenskyi says at a meeting with the European Council.

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During the meeting in Brussels on Thursday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that the country's survival can only ensured through NATO membership or through its own nuclear weapons.

He said that Ukraine gave up its Soviet nuclear weapons in 1994 in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the United States and Great Britain, but that security has not been fulfilled.

– Which of these nuclear powers has gone bad? No. But Ukraine has, Zelenskyy said during the European Council summit.

– Who gave up their nuclear weapons? Ukraine. And who gets hurt today? Ukraine.

Zelensky stressed that if Ukraine cannot have nuclear weapons as protection, it must have access to strong military alliance cooperation, with NATO being the only practical option.

However, he argued that Ukraine not trying to build nuclear weapons without NATO membership being the strongest security guarantee.

On Wednesday, Zelensky presented his “victory plan” in the Ukrainian parliament, which includes an invitation to NATO and continued arms deliveries.

Although NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has expressed support for Ukraine's membership, obstacles such as Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungary's Viktor Orbán have created uncertainty about whether a possible NATO entry for Ukraine will be possible.