Zelensky, meanwhile, has bitterly criticized the West for what he says is failing to live up to its promises.
Despite the Threat it Faces, Ukraine Was Right to Give Up its Nuclear Weapons
by Jack Kelly
https://www.gmfus.org/news/despite-threat-it-faces-ukraine-was-right-give-its-nuclear-weapons
Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and even more so with its current military threat to the country, there has been much
handwringing over Ukraine’s decision to give up its nuclear weapons in 1994. Many have been
asking whether Ukraine would find itself in its current predicament if it had not done so. Nuclear weapons are often viewed as the trump card in international relations; a threat an enemy knows always looms over them. But without the proper infrastructure, they are as dangerous to their owner as they are to the enemy, and they create a target for those who wish to acquire these weapons. Given the regional instability surrounding the newly independent post-Soviet states in 1991 as well as Ukraine’s budgetary restrictions, lack of a structured military, and need to build global relationships, giving up its nuclear weapons in 1994 was the best decision to ensure that the country grew safely and created strategic partnerships.
The Soviet Nuclear Weapons Inheritance
On December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev delivered the ten-minute speech that would be his final address as president of the Soviet Union—and the last moments of the state itself. He announced the dissolution of the Soviet Union and moments later the red flag with the hammer and sickle was lowered over the Kremlin as the tricolor flag of the Russian Federation replaced it.
The peaceful transition from one state to another seemingly took place over a matter of minutes that December evening but in fact many events had led to this moment. In the last of these—following Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania securing their independence in September—the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine met at
a hunting cabin in the Belarusian forest on December 8 and agreed to dissolve the Soviet Union.
The 12 remaining Soviet republics overnight became independent countries. Due to this abrupt change, many plans and infrastructures of the Soviet Union were still in place as it had not planned to suddenly disappear. Most worryingly, its nuclear stockpile now belonged not only to Russia but also to Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine where they were spread.
Belarus was left with over 100 nuclear weapons,
Kazakhstan over 1,400, and
Ukraine nearly 9,000 as well as 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles and 44 strategic bombers.
snip
= new reply since forum marked as read
