After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was the third country in the world in terms of nuclear power, and its army outnumbered any European country in terms of weapons. However, on June 2, 1996, Ukraine lost its nuclear status, its aircraft carrying nuclear missiles and the missiles themselves were either destroyed or handed over to russia. Ukraine was forced to do this by its current ally, the United States.
The Ukrainian News agency reports how the U.S. and russia deprived Ukraine of the opportunity to defend itself.
What Ukraine inherited
At the time of independence, Ukraine inherited from the USSR two elements of the so-called nuclear triad — intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic aviation. Ukraine has 176 operational mine-launchers with intercontinental ballistic missiles. They had long-range missiles. They could cover a distance of up to 10,000 kilometers, had from 6 to 10 warheads and knew how to bypass anti-missile defense systems. These were the latest missiles, the expiration date of which could only coincide now. Ukraine had more than 100 large Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers. All of them could carry cruise missiles of various types, in particular, and were equipped with nuclear charges.
At that time, the world was not very happy about such a legacy of Ukraine, because little was known about it. It instilled fear especially in the hearts of those at whom the late Soviet Union had already aimed these missiles at one time. Therefore, the U.S. joined forces with russia to deprive Ukraine of this inheritance.
George Bush is going to Kyiv
Everyone saw this visit as an invitation for Ukraine to join the free world. However, the American president criticized Ukraine's desire to escape from Moscow.
"Americans will not support those who seek independence to replace distant tyranny with local despotism. They will not help those who promote suicidal nationalism based on ethnic hatred," George Bush said in the Verkhovna Rada.
This shocked the Ukrainians. However, Kyiv could not do anything at that time.
A conspiracy between moscow and Washington
The U.S. already had the example of Yugoslavia, where in 1991 the war was just going on. The consequences of such a war in Ukraine, which had strategic nuclear weapons, frightened Washington. Therefore, the American government conspired with the russian government so that these weapons ended up in more "predictable" hands - russian ones. Although at that time moscow was already threatening Kyiv with russian uprisings in Donbas and Crimea. However, in the early 1990s, the American authorities trusted russia in particular.
In moscow at the end of July 1991, George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev concluded an agreement on the reduction of offensive weapons of the USSR. The U.S. did not negotiate separately with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, where strategic nuclear weapons were also stored. This role was entrusted to russia. During 1992-1994, negotiations regarding the future of our nuclear potential continued in moscow. As a result, Ukraine was faced with a choice between gaining independence, world recognition and maintaining a nuclear arsenal. That is, the rejection of nuclear weapons was a pass to world recognition, partnership relations with the West, financial and economic support. Billions of dollars had to be spent every year on the maintenance of planes and mines. The young Ukrainian state did not have such money. The national currency was destroyed by hyperinflation, businesses stopped, people lost their jobs. Ukraine was completely dependent on foreign aid. So, Kyiv had to make compromises.
Moscow disarms Kyiv
The nuclear disarmament of Ukraine began with the banal theft of all tactical nuclear weapons.
Tactical nuclear weapons are low-power charges that are mounted on various carriers: from cruise missiles and naval torpedoes to conventional artillery shells. Its purpose is to destroy enemy concentrations, super-strong concrete fortifications, bridges and other infrastructure facilities.
From November 1992 to May 1993, they and their carriers were taken to russia in echelons without any agreements between moscow and Kyiv. The russians simply kept the Americans informed. On May 6, 1992, George Bush announced that he had spoken to Boris Yeltsin on the phone, and he reported that all tactical nuclear weapons had already been removed from Ukraine. Most Ukrainians heard this unexpected news from Bush.
In 2018, in one of his interviews, Leonid Kravchuk mentioned that he had also heard threats from the new U.S. President Bill Clinton: "if you do not fulfill the task of removing the warheads from Ukraine, not just pressure will begin, but a blockade of Ukraine and not only from the U.S. ".
In 2002, the temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine tried to find out who and on the basis of which documents made the decision to export these weapons. At the parliamentarians' request, the commission received a paper signed by the then Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, which stated that this "decision was adopted by the 15th Department of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR to implement the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine of 1990”. It turns out that the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine acted on the basis of an order issued by the Ministry of Defense of another country, which no longer existed.
No one has yet been held responsible for such actions.
Guarantees that were not intended to be honored
According to experts, the price of Ukrainian nuclear potential is more than USD 100 billion. Kyiv did not hold on to nuclear status, but expected to receive security guarantees and money for disarmament.
In November 1993, the Verkhovna Rada ratified the accession to the moscow Treaty on the Reduction of Offensive Weapons and began the deactivation of long-range missiles. And in early January 1994, Bill Clinton, Leonid Kravchuk and Boris Yeltsin signed the so-called tripartite agreement in the kremlin, according to which Ukraine undertook to hand over its nuclear warheads to russia.
On December 5, 1994, in Budapest, Kyiv, moscow, London and Washington concluded an international agreement on guarantees for Ukraine in connection with the acquisition of non-nuclear status. This document went down in history under the name Budapest Memorandum. Its signatories, in particular, undertook to respect the independence, sovereignty and borders of Ukraine, to refrain from the threat of force, from economic pressure aimed at subjugating Ukraine to their own interests, from using weapons against Ukraine.
The phrase "security guarantees" sounded important, but they were called "guarantees" only in the Ukrainian-language version of the document. In the title of the English versions for the U.S. and the United Kingdom, there was no word "guarantees" at all. There they used the phrase "Security Assurances".
But according to the minutes of the meeting, the leaders of the four countries signed all versions of the translation of the document, not just the English version. The Ukrainian document was about guarantees. The signatures of Bill Clinton, John Major and Boris Yeltsin were also placed there. So, in Kyiv, they treated the confusion with the translation calmly and decided that they had received the desired security guarantees.
In 2014, after the annexation of Crimea, russian dictator vladimir putin declared that the Budapest Memorandum was concluded with Ukraine, which, according to the kremlin, ceased to exist simultaneously with the escape of Viktor Yanukovych from Kyiv.
Loss of nuclear status
Ukraine lost its nuclear status on June 2, 1996. On this day, not a single nuclear warhead or ammunition remained on our territory.
40 kg of plutonium, suitable for creating an atomic bomb, was still stored on the territory of Ukraine. But those reserves were transferred to the U.S. in 2010 by the newly elected President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.
In parallel with the Budapest Memorandum, the process of destroying the nuclear infrastructure continued in Ukraine. The first Ukrainian launch mine was liquidated in the Mykolaiv Region on January 5, 1996. By 2001, out of 176 such installations in Ukraine, only one remained near the village of Pobuzke in the Kirovohrad Region. It was also put out of order, but they did not completely fill it with concrete. It was turned into a museum of missile forces.
Fictional debt
In 1999, moscow said that the Ukrainians allegedly owed the russians USD 275 million dollars for the gas they consumed. Kyiv did not recognize this debt. However, the kremlin threatened to stop the supply of gas. But they did not mind if Ukraine paid off the debt not with money, but with the remains of strategic aviation, which had not yet had time to cut into pieces.
At that time, Ukraine still had 8 Tu-160 and three Tu-95MS bombers. These were the best airplanes produced from 89 to 91. Each of the planes cost a quarter of a million dollars. In addition, Ukraine also gave Kh-55 cruise missiles. Without airplanes, it was impossible to use them. Later, russia will modernize these missiles and return them to Ukraine in 2022, launching them over Ukrainian cities.
On February 24, 2022, after the start of russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine, consultations within the framework of the Budapest Memorandum were no longer discussed. The document turned out to be a worthless piece of paper. The russians once again broke their promises, and the Americans and British could not help it.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on May 6, the ministry of defense of the russian federation announced the holding of military exercises on the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.