Could Ukraine go nuclear?

Should Ukraine have nuclear weapons? This is a question that was raised, a little insincerely, by President Zelensky recently as he discussed Nato membership and its alternatives. If Ukraine was not in Nato, Zelensky mused, the only alternative would be to look for protection of another kind: nuclear arms. A recent story in the Times said that Ukraine could make a ‘rudimentary’ nuclear bomb ‘within months’ if Donald Trump withdrew Ukraine’s military assistance.

Russia has not used its nuclear weapons, but they have been the major reason no western power has directly intervened on Ukraine’s side. Ukraine had its own nuclear arsenal after the fall of the Soviet Union left it with a significant stockpile. If there is one thing every Ukrainian agrees on, it is that Ukraine should not have given up its bombs, which it did at the time of the 1994 Budapest memorandum. Ukraine joined non-proliferation treaties in return for a guarantee of Ukraine’s independence signed by Russia, Britain, France and the United States.