Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons but did not join NATO. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, on Friday, that the Russian aggression came as a result of a security vacuum, calling for new guarantees for his country.

“Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons for the sake of world peace. Then we knocked on NATO’s door, but it never opened. A safety vacuum led to Russian aggression. The world owes Ukraine a security guarantee and we ask (other) countries to decide what security guarantees they are willing to give” , Koleba wrote in an English-language post on Twitter.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, about a third of the Soviet nuclear arsenal was located on the territory of Ukraine. In 1994, the authorities in Kyiv agreed to dispose of these weapons and joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Some warheads were destroyed and some were delivered to Russia. In turn, in December of the same year, the Budapest Memorandum of Security Guarantees was signed. Under the agreement, the United States, Britain and Russia pledged to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. (PAP)

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