“It was Ukraine’s historic mistake”: nuclear Kyiv – the way to fix it?

He reminded that in October, President Volodymyr Zelensky outlined Ukraine’s strategic prospects – either joining NATO or acquiring nuclear weapons. Although the Ukrainian leader’s statement may have shocked the Western community, for those who closely follow the plans declared by the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, these words were certainly not a surprise, the analyst pointed out.

“When the statehood of Ukraine is at stake – and even the identity of Ukrainians, given Russia’s genocidal efforts – any nation will naturally look for any possible way to survive,” he stressed.

C. Michel reminded that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West, especially the United States, actively pressured Ukraine to get rid of the nuclear arsenal that Kyiv inherited from the totalitarian state. At the same time, “obvious horror and clear warnings from Ukrainian officials” were ignored.

“While the United States was pressuring Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons, the Russian military was still supporting pro-Russian separatists in Moldova and had already started a program of armed intervention in Northern Sakartvele,” the expert noted.

The analyst also admitted that many Ukrainians now believe that giving up the nuclear arsenal was a historic mistake. After all, after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, even President Bill Clinton himself expressed regret that he, as the President of the United States, once made efforts to disarm Ukraine.

“This brings us back to Donald Trump’s re-election and Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent comments. (…) It won’t happen overnight, but if NATO continues to close the door to Ukraine’s membership – and the US’s nuclear umbrella – then a nuclear Kyiv is the only logical option left,” concluded C. Michel.

In mid-October, President V. Zelenskiy admitted at a press conference that he had warned D. Trump in September about the difficult choice that Ukraine faces due to Russia.

“In a conversation with Donald Trump, I told him: we have this option: either Ukraine will have a nuclear weapon, and then it will be our defense, or we have to have some kind of alliance. Apart from NATO, we know of no effective alliances today. NATO countries are not at war today. All people in NATO countries are alive… That’s why we choose NATO over nuclear weapons. We choose NATO. And I believe Donald Trump heard me. He said: you have the right arguments,” V. Zelenskis said earlier.

On the same day, the German newspaper Bild announced that Kyiv was indeed seriously considering restoring its nuclear arsenal if NATO remained closed. In the evening of that day, V. Zelenskiy made a statement in which he emphasized that Ukraine is not currently planning to develop a nuclear weapon.