Trump aide claims Ukraine never possessed nuclear arms

(MENAFN) US Presidential Envoy for Special Assignments, Richard Grenell, clarified that Ukraine never had control over nuclear weapons, despite inheriting a portion of the Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal after its collapse in 1991. While Ukraine temporarily became the third-largest nuclear power, these weapons were under Russian control, and Kiev lacked the capability to launch them.

In 1994, Ukraine signed the Budapest Memorandum with the US, Russia, and the UK, agreeing to transfer all its nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for security assurances. Grenell, addressing the situation on X, explained that the nuclear weapons originally belonged to Russia and were merely leftover assets. He stated, “Ukraine returned the nuclear weapons back to Russia. They did not belong to Ukraine. That’s an inconvenient fact.”

Grenell's remarks come amid renewed criticism from Ukrainian officials about their country’s disarmament. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky recently criticized the Budapest Memorandum, calling it “stupid, illogical, and very irresponsible,” and suggested that Ukraine should either be fast-tracked into NATO or receive nuclear weapons and missile systems as protection from Russia.

Retired US General Keith Kellogg, serving as Trump’s envoy to Ukraine and Russia, dismissed Zelensky’s proposal, stating that Ukraine’s chances of regaining nuclear weapons were “slim to none.”

Russia has long maintained that Ukraine never possessed nuclear weapons independently and that the assets remained Russia's property as the Soviet Union’s legal successor. Moscow also asserts that Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO and its potential nuclear ambitions were key factors in the ongoing conflict, with President Vladimir Putin warning in November that Russia would use “all the means of destruction at its disposal” if Ukraine were to acquire nuclear weapons.

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