Likely this is going to be all over the Internet - could this be the EU's last card ?
Over the last 4 yeas the talk of Ukraine "developing" their own nuke has come out several times - cover?
Kremlin Alleges UK, France May Give Nuclear Arms to Ukraine
Moscow alleges London and Paris are preparing to give Kyiv nuclear arms, a claim made without any proof and one that has not been clarified by Western officials.
www.kyivpost.com
Britain and France are allegedly preparing to provide Kyiv with a nuclear bomb, according to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
“The British and French want to disguise the transfer of nuclear weapons to Kyiv as Ukraine’s own development,” the SVR said in a statement cited by the state propaganda agency TASS.
Russian intelligence further claimed that “Britain and France realize that there is no chance of achieving victory over Russia through the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
According to reports by Russian media, the plan would involve “the covert transfer of European components, equipment, and technologies to Ukraine in this area.” It added that the French TN75 small-size warhead from the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile is being considered as an option.
Russian intelligence also alleged that Germany refused to participate in the transfer.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Federation Council has called on the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to investigate what it described as the UK and France’s intention to supply Kyiv with nuclear explosive devices, TASS reported.
In late November 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the issue while answering journalists’ questions at a press conference concluding his state visit to Kazakhstan. He stated that Moscow would not allow Ukraine to acquire nuclear weapons and would use all available means to prevent it.
“If the country with which we are essentially currently engaged in military action becomes a nuclear power, what should we do? In that case, we will use all available means of destruction. All of them,” he said.
Putin also emphasized that any transfer of nuclear weapons to Ukraine would violate the international non-proliferation regime.
“If someone officially transfers anything, then it will be a violation of all our obligations regarding the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” he said.
“We will monitor every step – what is happening there – and we will not allow it,” Putin added.
In November 2024, erroneous rumors circulated that the Biden administration might consider supporting the restoration of Ukraine’s nuclear capability as a deterrent against Russia’s ongoing invasion.
The speculation followed a New York Times article examining the West’s options for assisting Kyiv ahead of then President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office, amid concerns that he could scale back US support.
In one paragraph, the publication noted that unnamed officials had “suggested” Biden could return the nuclear weapons Ukraine relinquished in the 1990s under the Budapest Memorandum.
“Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications,” the report stated.
However, Biden himself did not propose such a move. Moreover, Washington does not possess the nuclear weapons Ukraine surrendered in the 1990s, making such an option effectively impossible.
In early February 2025, the Kremlin sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s suggestion that nuclear weapons could help guarantee Ukraine’s security against another Russian invasion. The idea was described as “bordering on madness.”
“There is a nuclear non-proliferation regime,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, as cited by the Russian Radio Mayak Telegram channel. “I would like to believe that, despite the shortcomings in the qualifications of the current generation of politicians in Europe, there is still some sober understanding of the absurdity and potential danger of discussing such a topic.”
Zelensky had remarked in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan that Ukraine might need to reacquire nuclear weapons if it were not accepted into the NATO defensive alliance.
In June 2022, Member of the European Parliament Radosław Sikorski said that the West has the right to provide Ukraine with nuclear warheads to defend its independence.
He recalled that Ukraine surrendered its nuclear arsenal under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for guarantees of territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Sikorski noted that Ukraine was unable at the time to maintain its nuclear arsenal or exercise operational control over it, and that Russia no longer recognizes the document’s provisions as binding guarantees.
“Nevertheless, Russia violated the Budapest Memorandum. Therefore, I believe that we, as the West, would have the right to give Ukraine nuclear warheads so that it could defend its independence,” he said.
In response, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin accused Sikorski of provoking a nuclear conflict in Europe.
“He doesn’t think about the future of either Ukraine or Poland. If his proposals are implemented, these countries, just like Europe, will cease to exist,” Volodin wrote via Telegram at the time.
Ukraine surrendered its nuclear arsenal under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for security guarantees from several partners, including Russia – a commitment Moscow later violated by illegally annexing Crimea and launching invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022.
According to a 1999 publication on nuclear disarmament, citing a White House fact sheet, Ukraine possessed approximately 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads in January 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union – making it, at the time, the world’s third-largest nuclear power after the United States and Russia.
“After some more posturing and delay, the first strategic warheads were loaded on a special train in the last days of February and shipped out of Ukraine in early March 1994. By November 1994, Russia had taken 400 strategic nuclear warheads from Ukraine. By 1 June 1996 all strategic nuclear weapons had been removed from Ukraine,” the 1999 publication stated.
