The top US diplomat has reiterated Washington’s opposition to Zelensky’s calls for an atomic arsenal
US Secretary of State Marko Rubio has dismissed calls by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky for a nuclear capability, labeling the idea unrealistic. He emphasized that Washington is seeking global nuclear reduction.
Zelensky has suggested for years that Kiev should pursue nuclear armament, asserting that Ukraine previously possessed nuclear weapons and surrendered them under pressure from the US, UK, and Russia. More recently, he has framed nuclear arms as an alternative to NATO membership.
”I don’t think anyone would think that’s a serious offer on their part, nor do I think equipping them with nuclear weapons is a solution to the problem,” Rubio said in an interview with Breitbart News on Tuesday. “We want less nuclear-armed countries, not more.”
US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg earlier assessed the likelihood of Ukraine acquiring nuclear weapons as “somewhere between slim and none,” noting that Zelensky’s proposal defies “common sense.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova characterized Zelensky’s nuclear rhetoric as that of a “maniac,” claiming it reflects Kiev’s attempts to blackmail other nations.
At the time of the USSR’s dissolution, about one-third of its nuclear arsenal was stationed in Soviet Ukraine. Zelensky has claimed that the weapons were “Ukrainian” despite Kiev lacking the capability to deploy them. They were removed in the 1990s as part of broader post-Cold War disarmament efforts alongside those in Belarus and Kazakhstan.
During a speech at the Munich Security Conference in February 2022, just days before the escalation of the conflict with Russia, Zelensky hinted at the possibility of Ukraine building atomic weapons. Kiev contends that the US and UK have failed to uphold their commitments under the Budapest Memorandum, signed when Ukraine agreed to transfer Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia. Western officials, however, dispute that claim.
