Why Ukraine, Once the World's Third Largest Nuclear Power, Gave Up Its Arsenal and Why America is Now Obligated to Defend Ukraine and Its Borders
And how Ukraine has evolved through history
Compiled by Denise Rivette
A Brief History of Ukraine
Different parts of the area that is today Ukraine were invaded and occupied in the 1st millennium bce by the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians and in the 1st millennium ce by the Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Avars, Khazars, and Magyars (Hungarians). Slavic tribes settled there after the 4th century. Kyiv was the chief town. The Mongol conquest in the mid-13th century decisively ended Kyivan power.
From the 14th to the 18th century, portions of Ukraine were ruled by Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. In addition, Cossacks controlled a largely self-governing territory known as the Hetmanate. Most of Ukraine fell to Russian rule in the 18th century.
In the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917, most of the Ukrainian region became a republic of the Soviet Union, though parts of western Ukraine were divided between Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. Ukraine suffered a severe famine, called the Holodomor, in 1932–33 under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Overrun by Axis armies in 1941 during World War II, Ukraine was further devastated before being retaken by the Soviets in 1944. By the end of the war, the borders of the Ukrainian S.S.R. had been redrawn to include the western Ukrainian territories.
Ukraine was the site of the 1986 Chernobyl accident at a Soviet-built nuclear power plant. In 1991 Ukraine declared independence. (Ukrainian independence led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union by 26 December 1991. ~Wikipedia). The turmoil it experienced in the 1990s as it attempted to implement economic and political reforms culminated in the disputed presidential election of 2004. The mass protests in Ukraine over its results came to be known as the Orange Revolution. The effects of the revolution were short-lived, however, and the country remained divided along regional and ethnic lines.
How Did Ukraine Become a Nuclear Superpower?
The Arms Control Association, founded in 1971, is a national nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies. It provides a webpage entitled Ukraine, Nuclear Weapons, and Security Assurances at a Glance. That page begins, “At the time of Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine held the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, including an estimated 1,900 strategic warheads, 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and 44 strategic bombers. By 1996, Ukraine had returned all of its nuclear warheads to Russia in exchange for economic aid and security assurances, and in December 1994, Ukraine became a non-nuclear weapon state-party to the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).”
How Did America Become Responsible for Ukraine?
The 1994 Budapest Memorandum was the agreement in which Ukraine committed to become a non-nuclear weapon state. Under that agreement, the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland committed to the following:
To respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine; to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defence or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations;
To refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind;
To seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used;
Reaffirmed, in the case of Ukraine, their commitment not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, except in the case of an attack on themselves, their territories or dependent territories, their armed forces, or their allies, by such a State in association or alliance with a nuclear-weapon State;
Finally, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America agreed to consult in the event a situation arises that raises a question concerning these commitments.
America and Russia Reaffirm Budapest Memorandum
Following is a joint statement released on December 4, 2009, by the United States and the Russian Federation regarding the expiration of the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms:
The United States of America and the Russian Federation recognize the significant contribution of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Ukraine to successful implementation of the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START) Treaty.
The value of the START Treaty was greatly enhanced when the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Ukraine removed all nuclear weapons from their territories and acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as non-nuclear-weapon states. The actions of these states have enhanced the NPT regime, had a beneficial impact on international security and strategic stability, and created favorable conditions for further steps to reduce nuclear arsenals.
The United States of America and the Russian Federation welcome the commitment of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Ukraine to their status as non-nuclear-weapon states.
The fulfillment by these states of their obligations under the Protocol to the START Treaty of May 23, 1992, (Lisbon Protocol) and their accession to the NPT as non-nuclear-weapon states, strengthened their security, which was reflected, inter alia, in the Budapest Memoranda of December 5, 1994. In this connection, the United States of America and the Russian Federation confirm that the assurances recorded in the Budapest Memoranda will remain in effect after December 4, 2009. (Emphasis added)
From Wikipedia:
In November 2013, a wave of large-scale protests known as "Euromaidan" began in response to Ukrainian President Yanukovych's decision not to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU), instead choosing closer ties to Russia. Euromaidan soon developed into the largest democratic mass movement in Europe since 1989 with deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capital Kyiv culminating in the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych, the return to the 2004 Constitution of Ukraine, and the outbreak of the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian War.
The 2014 hostilities began with Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, and the war in Donbas, in which Russia backed the separatist fighters of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic. The conflicts had killed over 13,000 people by early 2020, and brought international sanctions on Russia. Numerous bilateral agreements have been terminated and economic ties severed.
In February 2015, Russia and Ukraine signed the Minsk II agreements. Marie Dumoulin, director of the Wider Europe programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in February 2024 an article titled:
It provides the roadmap used by Russia to maneuver around the intent and language of the Minsk agreements.
Throughout 2021, a Russian military build-up on the border of Ukraine escalated tensions between the two countries and strained their bilateral relations, eventually leading to Russia initiating a full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. In response, Ukraine broke off diplomatic relations with Russia.
The war has been raging for over three years. The world seems to agree that the war should end, but not how. Ukraine has agreed to a 30-day cease fire in an effort to negotiate a just and lasting peace. The world awaits Putin’s decision on whether Russia will join the effort.
And trump, like he betrays everything, is betraying Ukraine.