The Ukrainian government, under Western pressure, completed the destruction or handed over to Russia the Soviet nuclear weapons still stationed on its territory and destroyed its nuclear-capable bombers. Had it not done so, would Russia have invaded Ukraine first in 2014 and then again in 2022? At the time, the Soviet arsenal in Ukrainian hands was the third largest in the world. In exchange, Ukraine received security guarantees from the United States, Great Britain, and Russia. The memorandum by which Ukraine surrendered its nuclear weapons was signed in Budapest in 1994 (The Budapest Memorandum). The memorandum, signed in the Fatherland Hall of the Budapest Congress Center in the presence of, among others, US Ambassador Donald M. Blinken, prohibited Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom from threatening or using military force or economic coercion against Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, “except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.” Following further agreements and the memorandum, between 1993 and 1996, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine renounced their nuclear weapons.
