Ukraine MP: No NATO, We Must Go Nuclear

Ukraine once held the world’s third-largest amount of nuclear weapons—about 1,900 strategic warheads

Alexey Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP, posted a selfie of himself on his X account at a rally in Munich. (Goncharenko/X)

Alexey Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP, said Ukraine must obtain a nuclear weapon — or produce one itself — if it stands a chance against Russia.

RT, the Russian news outlet, reported Sunday “that Goncharenko pressed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the issue at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.”

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Goncharenko said Ukraine has three options: NATO membership, allying with a nuclear power, or “restoring our nuclear potential.”

He said Blinken dodged his inquires.

He said, “We don’t need a thousand. We need 20.”

Russia claimed that Ukraine tried to obtain nukes before its February 2022 invasion, a claim that Ukraine denied.

Rafael Grossi, the director of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, said in 2022 that the agency has no “information that there is any deviation of material, any undeclared material or activities leading to the development of nuclear weapons” in Ukraine. 

Those in favor of all-out war for Ukraine have seized on the 1994 Budapest Memorandum that vowed security assurances as long as Ukraine transferred its nuclear arsenal obtained after the fall of the Soviet Union. 

The U.S. and U.K. vowed to come to Kyiv’s aid, but denied Kyiv’s request for a “legally binding guarantee.”

“I’m going to point out the elephant in the room,” Bill Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital, posted on X. “The U.K. and U.S. committed in 1994 to protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons.”

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The Brookings Institute noted that the Budapest Memorandum was signed by the U.S., UK, and Russia – and included security “assurances,” not “guarantees.”

Guarantees would have implied a commitment of American military force, which NATO members have, according to the think tank.

Ukraine once held the world’s third-largest amount of nuclear weapons—about 1,900 strategic warheads, 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles, and 44 strategic bombers, according to armscontrol.org.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said in April 2023 that he feels a “personal stake” in the Ukraine War because he said he pressured Ukraine to give up its substantial nuclear arsenal in 1994.

He said Russia was unlikely to attack if Ukraine still had its weapons.

“I knew that President [Vladimir] Putin did not support the agreement President Yeltsin made never to interfere with Ukraine's territorial boundaries - an agreement he made because he wanted Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons. They were afraid to give them up because they thought that was the only thing that protected them from an expansionist Russia. When it became convenient to him, President Putin broke it and first took Crimea. And I feel terrible about it because Ukraine is a very important country,” he said.

In 2023, Waldemar Skrzypczak, the Polish general and former junior defense minister, said he does not rule out the possibility that Ukraine’s military has nuclear capabilities – as Washington’s State Department remains diplomatically impotent.

The general said he cannot rule out the theory because Ukraine has “nuclear power plants, scientists, laboratories and know-how.”

“In other words, everything they need to possess such a weapon. In fact, today no one is in a position to prohibit the Ukrainians from having it,” he said.

Pavlo Rizanenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, told USA Today in 2014, “We gave up nuclear weapons because of this agreement. Now there's a strong sentiment in Ukraine that we made a big mistake.”

He continued, “In the future, no matter how the situation is resolved in Crimea, we need a much stronger Ukraine. If you have nuclear weapons, people don't invade you.”