President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is convinced that it was necessary to abandon nuclear weapons only in exchange for real security guarantees, which at that time were NATO.
Points of attention
- President Zelensky believes Ukraine's decision to give up nuclear weapons under the Budapest Memorandum was irresponsible and calls for real security guarantees in exchange.
- Zelensky criticizes world powers for forcing Ukraine to disarm without providing adequate protection, leading to Russian invasions and territorial integrity breaches.
- The Budapest Memorandum, which initially included the USA, Russia, Britain, France, and China, failed to deliver the promised security assurances to Ukraine.
- Zelensky emphasizes the importance of learning from past mistakes and demands accountability from those responsible for the failures of the security guarantees.
- The President's stance reflects the ongoing struggle of Ukraine to secure meaningful support in the face of aggression, highlighting the need for stronger defense mechanisms like NATO.
It was stupid — Zelenskyy on Ukraine's rejection of nuclear weapons
Zelensky said this in an interview with Italian journalist Cecilia Sali for the newspaper Il Foglio.
Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons... In my opinion, it was unnecessary, judging by the fact that we were attacked.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine
According to him, the US and Russia forced Ukraine to get rid of nuclear weapons, and it was at least dangerous to exchange weapons "for nothing."
It was necessary to exchange it for real security guarantees. Then it was only NATO. To be honest, now it is only NATO. In peacetime for us it is NATO, and in times of war it is a strong army. If I were to exchange nuclear weapons, I would exchange them for something very strong that can really stop any attacker.
I think it was stupid, absolutely stupid, illogical, and very irresponsible to change like that.
Zelensky stressed that he is not going to trust empty promises
The Head of State draws attention to the fact that the Budapest Memorandum contained security guarantees for Ukraine, but they did not save it from several Russian invasions.
Initially, the three most important guarantors of security for Ukraine, three strategic friends and partners of Ukraine — the USA, Russia, Britain. France and China joined. There were 5 states… Now we understand that these are not security guarantees. It was written "assurances"… These are the largest states, these are the nuclear five. Now we should find all these people who came up with all this and just put them in prison…
According to him, immediately after part of Donbas and Crimea were occupied, Ukraine sent letters 3 times over several years to all security guarantors, all members of the Budapest Memorandum.
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