President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the events that resulted in Ukraine's abandonment of its nuclear weapons arsenal an unfair game and a big mistake. The head of state said this in an interview with The Rest Is Politics podcast.
According to him, when Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons, the price that the other side had to pay for it had to be fair. The least Kyiv should have gotten was membership in the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO).
"What did we get? Nothing. It was an unfair game and a big mistake. Not only the Ukrainian mistake, but also the mistake of other signatories to the Budapest Memorandum," Zelenskyy said.
He believes that if the nuclear powers asked Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons, they should have provided a "security umbrella."
Ukraine's abandonment of nuclear weapons ultimately turned out to be a deception, Zelenskyy added. Some of the weapons were transferred to the aggressor country russia, including strategic bombers, which the occupiers are now using to launch missile strikes against Ukraine.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on Thursday, April 9, Czech President Petr Pavel said, that over the past three weeks, US President Donald Trump has done more to reduce the authority of NATO than russian dictator vladimir putin has done for many years.
A day earlier, on April 8, the White House said that Trump would meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to discuss the possible withdrawal of the United States from the alliance.
Politico previously published a story saying that disagreements between the United States and its NATO allies may open up more opportunities for Ukraine's integration into the alliance.
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