Source: statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is available to "European Truth"
Verbatim: "We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent to further aggression by Russia against Ukraine and other states, is only full membership of Ukraine in NATO."
Details: The document notes that Ukraine is preemptively rejecting any formats alternative to membership. "Having the bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum behind us, we will not accept any alternatives, surrogates, or substitutes for full membership of Ukraine in NATO," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes.
The foreign policy agency calls on "the USA and the UK, who signed the Budapest Memorandum, France and China, who joined it, and all states participating in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," to politically support Ukraine's invitation to NATO now, which would be "an effective counter to Russian blackmail."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reminds that the issue is not only about Ukrainian and not just about European security, as the attack on Ukraine in violation of the agreements of 1994 "undermined trust in the very idea of nuclear disarmament" and revived "active attempts by various countries from the Indo-Pacific region and the Middle East to the Euro-Atlantic space to create or expand existing nuclear arsenals."
More details: The statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasizes that it is made "on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum." However, the document was published two days before the mentioned date (which will occur on December 5), and the choice of publication day is not coincidental – according to sources from EuroTruth, Minister Andriy Sibiga intends to present this position during the NATO ministerial meeting that will begin on December 3 in Brussels.
The detailed statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, formatted as a political position document, starts with mentions of what was expected from the so-called "Budapest Memorandum," signed in 1994 as part of the agreement on Ukraine's renunciation of its nuclear arsenal.
"The Memorandum was supposed to mark a significant step in strengthening global nuclear disarmament and serve as an example for other states in renouncing nuclear weapons... However, it failed to prevent the aggression of the Russian Federation as a nuclear-armed state against Ukraine as a state that renounced its nuclear arsenal," Kyiv reminds.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes the Budapest Memorandum as "a monument to shortsightedness in making strategic security decisions" and notes that "the development of the European security architecture at the expense of Ukraine's interests, rather than taking them into account, is doomed to failure."
What preceded:
- On Tuesday, a NATO-Ukraine Council will take place in Brussels. Before this meeting, President Zelensky made statements for the first time that Ukraine could join NATO with partial activation of Article 5, although this idea has not yet been detailed.
- This week, the USA denied the possibility of returning nuclear weapons to Ukraine's arsenal.