Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has threatened to acquire nuclear weapons if NATO refuses to accept Ukraine as a member, which would likely trigger an open war between the West and Russia due to the military alliance’s mutual defense clause. Speaking to a conference of European Union (EU) leaders in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, Zelensky stated that nuclear rearmament is the only other option for this country if NATO membership is denied.
“What way out do we have? Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, or we have to be in some kind of alliance,” Zelensky insisted, claiming he would greatly prefer to join NATO. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had nuclear weapons on its territory, but it gave them up in 1994 as part of the Budapest Memorandum on Ukrainian sovereignty.
Zelensky also stated that he did not understand concerns from those in the United States that Ukraine joining the military alliance could drag NATO into a war with Russia. “An invitation is a preventive step to show that it is not Putin who is changing the world,” he said—although a full-scale war between Ukraine and Russia is already active.
Zelensky also revealed that he told President Donald J. Trump that he would pursue nuclear weapons if Ukraine did not join NATO during the pair’s meetinglast month.
Trump has proposed a peace plan for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and he states he will end the war if elected next month. Zelensky has largely rejected Trump’s peace proposals in the past, criticizing Trump openly and visiting the United States to, in effect, campaign for Kamala Harris.
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