In an exclusive interview, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi responded to allegations that Ukraine is preparing to develop nuclear weapons, which were reported by the German newspaper Bild. On October 17, Tykhyi firmly stated, “Ukraine is not preparing to develop weapons of mass destruction and remains committed to nuclear non-proliferation.”
According to reports from The Daily Telegraph, Ukraine has four nuclear power plants, and an anonymous Ukrainian official involved in arms procurement suggested that Kyiv could potentially produce nuclear missiles. “We have the materials and the knowledge. If the order is given, we could have our first bomb within weeks,” the official claimed.
This same official warned, “The West should focus less on Russia’s red lines and more on our own.”
Following the Bild report, Tykhyi issued a statement asserting, “We officially deny the insinuations made by unnamed sources in the Bild article regarding Ukraine’s alleged plans to develop weapons of mass destruction.” He emphasized that Ukraine has been and continues to be a loyal signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), having given up one of the world’s largest military nuclear capabilities. Ukraine, he noted, has historically contributed significantly to international peace, security, and nuclear non-proliferation, and is currently facing nuclear blackmail from the terrorist state of Russia.
In other news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned during a meeting in Brussels that he had told former President Donald Trump, who is running for the Republican nomination, that Ukraine needs to join NATO, or it will consider developing nuclear capabilities for self-defense.
However, Zelensky later clarified in a joint press conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Ukraine is not seeking nuclear weapons. His previous remarks were aimed at highlighting the failures of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. As reported by Russian state media RT, Zelensky stated, “We sometimes create our own troubles, and now you’re beginning to do that. So, we’ve never talked about preparing to create nuclear weapons or similar arms.”
He further remarked, “That’s why I have said that I have no alternative to NATO. This is my signal, but we are not developing nuclear weapons, so please don’t push these narratives.”