Western security guarantees “meant nothing” to Kiev, the Ukrainian president claims.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has voiced his regret over Ukraine’s lack of nuclear weapons, suggesting they could have served as an effective deterrent against Moscow.
Speaking with US podcaster Lex Fridman in an interview released Sunday, Zelensky criticized Western nations for failing to uphold security guarantees promised to Ukraine.
During the three-hour discussion, Fridman proposed a hypothetical scenario in which Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and US President-elect Donald Trump meet to negotiate peace.
When asked what security guarantees could satisfy both Ukraine and Russia, Zelensky launched into a detailed critique of past Western actions.
“Ukraine had security guarantees under the Budapest Memorandum. Nuclear weapons were our security guarantees,” Zelensky said.
“We gave them up. I won’t say whether it was good or bad at the time, but today, the fact that we don’t have them is bad.”
The Budapest Memorandum and Ukraine’s Nuclear Arsenal
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited approximately 1,700 nuclear warheads, making it the third-largest nuclear power by stockpile. However, the warheads remained under Russian operational control.
Under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine agreed to relinquish these weapons in exchange for security assurances from Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Zelensky accused these guarantors of failing to uphold their commitments. “They didn’t care,” he said bluntly in Russian, despite conducting most of the interview in Ukrainian.
“Russia didn’t care, nor did the US, the UK, or any of the other guarantors. None of them cared about this country, its people, or the promises they made.”
Criticism of Western Inaction
The Ukrainian leader expressed frustration over what he sees as the international community’s failure to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He specifically criticized the response to Russia’s alleged violations of the Budapest Memorandum, including its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and subsequent actions in Ukraine.
Zelensky has previously stated that Ukraine has “every right” to revisit the decision to relinquish its nuclear arsenal.
In October, he reiterated that Ukraine’s only viable paths to security are joining NATO or re-establishing a nuclear deterrent.
Russia’s Stance
Moscow has consistently argued that Ukraine never truly possessed nuclear weapons, asserting that they were Soviet assets legally belonging to Russia.
The Kremlin also contends that NATO’s eastward expansion undermined the 1994 agreement, framing the 2014 Maidan protests as a Western-sponsored coup that violated Ukraine’s neutrality.
As the conflict continues, Zelensky’s comments reflect a growing sense of disillusionment with Western security assurances, while underscoring the high stakes of Ukraine’s geopolitical position.
