Ukraine is not going to restore nuclear potential, Zelenskyy says

The Ukrainian leader said this at a briefing in Brussels.

‘I can give you an example of my conversation about NATO. I talked about it with Trump. I gave the example of the Budapest Memorandum, which is a clear example,’ Zelenskyy said.

According to him, he reminded the candidate that the document was signed by the United States and Russia, but eventually, almost everyone violated the agreement, and the memorandum itself did not work.

‘The condition for Ukraine was to give up its nuclear weapons, and in return, the signatories guaranteed Ukraine's sovereignty within the internationally recognized borders of 1991. How can we trust all the partners who guaranteed the preservation of our territorial integrity? All these agreements did not work. ... And so it turns out that we have a choice: either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, or we must have some kind of alliance,’ the president said.

Zelenskyy stressed that Kyiv ‘does not know any more effective alliances’ except for NATO, which is why Ukraine is choosing it.

According to the Ukrainian president, Trump noted that Ukraine's arguments for joining the North Atlantic Alliance are fair.

At the same time, Zelenskyy stressed that inviting Ukraine to join NATO is not a violation of the ‘red lines’ but a preventive step towards expanding aggression beyond the borders of the state.

Later, Bild wrote that Ukraine is capable of restoring its nuclear arsenal in a few weeks. In this regard, during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Zelenskyy clarified that Ukraine was not going to restore its nuclear capabilities and asked journalists not to distort his words. He stressed that Ukraine's goal is to join NATO, as the countries that promised Kyiv protection in exchange for nuclear weapons did not honor the Budapest Memorandum.

• On September 27, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in New York.