Mariana Lastovyria
For a brief period just over thirty years ago, Ukraine possessed the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world.
Its missiles could reach targets more than 10,000 kilometers away in just 25 minutes.
But in 1994, after the breakup of the USSR, the newly independent country gave up all of its nuclear weapons. In return, it signed the Budapest memorandum alongside the United States, Britain and Russia, which obligated them to provide security in return.
But all illusions were shattered when a country that was one of the guarantors waged war against Ukraine, first in 2014, and then in a full-scale invasion in 2022.
The nuclear threat in Ukraine has been rising. On November 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the country's legal threshold for a nuclear strike, so it could consider a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack. Putin made the change after President Biden allowed Ukraine to use American-made missiles to strike inside Russia.
The fundamental issue when it comes to a hypothetical Ukrainian nuclear program is that the instinct behind it is driven by betrayal. Betrayal by Russia, for invading; betrayal from the West for not living up to its security assurances.
No comments:
Post a Comment