The United States is not considering returning nuclear weapons to Ukraine that the country gave up after the collapse of the Soviet Union, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.
Sullivan made the statement after being asked about last month’s New York Times report that some unnamed Western officials suggested that US President Joe Biden might give weapons to Ukraine before leaving office.
“This is not being considered. What we’re doing is bringing a lot of conventional capabilities to Ukraine so that it can defend itself effectively and take the fight to the Russians, not [dar a eles] nuclear capacity”, commented the advisor to ABC.
Last week, Russia said the idea of sending nuclear weapons to Ukraine was “absolute insanity” and that avoiding such a scenario was one of the reasons Moscow sent troops to the neighboring country.
Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after the country’s collapse in 1991, but gave them up in a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Understand the war between Russia and Ukraine
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and entered the territory from three fronts: through the Russian border, through Crimea and through Belarus, a country that is a strong ally of the Kremlin.
Forces loyal to President Vladimir Putin made significant advances in the first few days, but the Ukrainians managed to maintain control of Kiev, even though the city was also attacked. The invasion was criticized internationally and the Kremlin was the target of Western economic sanctions.
In October 2024, after thousands of deaths, the war in Ukraine entered what analysts describe as its most dangerous moment yet.
Tensions rose when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the use of an intermediate-range hypersonic missile during an attack on Ukrainian soil. The projectile carried conventional warheads, but is capable of carrying nuclear material.
The launch took place after Ukraine launched an offensive inside Russian territory using weapons manufactured by Western powers, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
Western intelligence reports that Russia is using North Korean troops in the conflict in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang neither deny nor confirm the report.
President Vladimir Putin, who replaced his defense minister in May, has said that Russian forces are advancing much more effectively — and that Russia will achieve all of its objectives in Ukraine, although he did not elaborate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he believes Putin’s main goals are to occupy the entire Donbass region, encompassing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and to expel Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region of Russia, which they have controlled parts of since August. .
This content was originally published in USA does not consider returning nuclear weapons to Ukraine, says White House advisor on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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