In 1991, Ukraine voted to become independent from the USSR. At the time, Ukraine had 25% of the total Soviet nuclear arsenal on its territory, and upon independence, became the third-largest nuclear power in the world. In 1994, at the urging of the U.S., Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security assurances from the U.S., U.K., and Russia. This is documented in the Budapest Memorandum signed on Dec. 5, 1994.
Ukraine was subsequently invaded by Russia in 2014, and again in 2022. Is the U.S. keeping up its end of the bargain?
— Val Stella
Anchorage
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