The US is not considering the idea of returning to Ukraine the nuclear weapons it gave up after the Soviet Union collapsed, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has told ABC.
The New York Times had reported unidentified Western officials suggested Joe Biden could give Ukraine the arms before he leaves office.
“That is not under consideration, no. What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine so that they can effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians, not nuclear capability.”
For context: When Ukraine gained independence in 1991, it held the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world.
Some 1,900 warheads, 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles and 44 strategic bombers were located in the country, according to the Arms Control Association.
But within five years, Ukraine returned them all to Russia in exchange for economic support and security assurances from the US and Moscow.
The US and Russia campaigned to dismantle nuclear weapons following the collapse of Soviet Union to prevent them from falling into the hands of rogue states or terrorists.
Ukraine, the US, Russia, and the UK signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 promising Ukraine security assurances against the threat or use of force against Ukraine’s territory, independence or sovereignty.
In return, Ukraine acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear state.
When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the UK, US and Ukraine said it had blatantly violated the Budapest Memorandum.
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