Zelenskyy: We need NATO or nukes … and we want NATO

Ukraine suffered uniquely from its 1994 decision to denuclearize, the country's president said.

Oct 18, 2024 - 01:00

BRUSSELS — Ukraine’s survival can only be ensured by joining NATO or giving Kyiv nuclear weapons, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy recalled that his country agreed to give up the Soviet nuclear weapons stored on its soil in exchange for security assurances from Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.

“Which of these major nuclear powers suffered? All of them? No. Ukraine [did],” Zelenskyy said at the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday.

“Who gave up nuclear weapons? All of them? No. Ukraine. Who is fighting today? Ukraine,” he added. “Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons and that will be our protection or we should have some sort of alliance. Apart from NATO, today we do not know any effective alliances.

“NATO countries are not at war. People are all alive in NATO countries. And thank God. That is why we choose NATO. Not nuclear weapons,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian leader presented his so-called victory plan to end the war with Russia to the Kyiv parliament on Wednesday. It includes securing a NATO membership invitation plus continued arms shipments to force Russia to the negotiating table.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has expressed support for Ukraine’s joining the military alliance, saying its path to membership is “irreversible,” but has been noncommittal about when exactly that will be.

“We fulfill our obligations and just want others to fulfill theirs as well, but we have no real security guarantees as of now,” a Ukrainian official close to the president told POLITICO after being granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.

Kyiv must get the approval of all 32 NATO members to join, but pro-Russian Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has vowed to block Ukraine’s accession as long as he is in office.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, meanwhile, whose relationship with Zelenskyy is rocky, also labeled Ukraine’s victory plan “more than frightening.”

Zelenskyy said Thursday he had greeted Orbán at the leaders’ summit in Brussels. “I saw Viktor Orbán among other leaders today. And we said hello to each other. I think that’s already not bad,” he deadpanned.

Veronika Melkozerova contributed to this report.