Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the country's renunciation of nuclear weapons in 1994 a 'big mistake.' According to him, NATO membership is 'the least' that Ukraine should have received in return.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the country's renunciation of its nuclear arsenal in December 1994 a "big mistake" in exchange for security guarantees from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia, as outlined in the Budapest Memorandum, writes DW. The head of state made this statement during an episode of the podcast The Rest Is Politics by British journalists Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, published on Thursday, April 9. Text excerpts from the interview were shared by the head of state on his Telegram channel on April 10.
"When Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons, the price that the other side had to pay should have been fair. I believe that NATO membership is the least that Ukraine's leaders should have received in exchange for the nuclear arsenal. What did we get? Nothing. It was an unfair game and a big mistake," Zelensky said in the podcast.
According to Zelensky, the other signatory countries of the Budapest Memorandum "should have provided a security umbrella" for Ukraine since they asked it to give up its nuclear weapons.
"In the end, all of this was a deception. A significant part of our nuclear weapons was transferred to Russia. For example, the strategic bombers that Russia is now using against us in this war," noted the President of Ukraine.
Zelensky has previously criticized Ukraine's renunciation of nuclear weapons
In January 2025, the President of Ukraine, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, called the previous authorities' renunciation of the nuclear arsenal "foolish and irresponsible." "Ukraine gave away its nuclear weapons. If I were to exchange nuclear weapons, I would exchange them for something very powerful - for something that can truly stop any aggressor, regardless of its size, territory, army, and so on. And that is a powerful army and NATO security bloc," Zelensky noted.
In February of the same year, the President of Ukraine stated in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan that a sufficient security guarantee for Ukraine could be the transfer of nuclear weapons by Western partners. According to Zelensky, this would deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching a new attack, even if Ukraine is not admitted to NATO.
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