Russia’s launch of the Oreshnik ballistic missile and the difficult situation at the front have renewed the discussion about new ways of providing military assistance to Ukraine and its future security system on the eve of Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House. The NYT reports that American and European officials have offered to help return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were “seized after the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
According to officials, the decision would be an immediate and powerful deterrent for Russia. Earlier, the National Institute for Strategic Studies (NISS) stated that Ukraine could quickly develop plutonium-based nuclear weapons. Ukraine does not have the ability to build and operate large-scale uranium enrichment facilities, but it could use plutonium obtained from spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants. The country has about seven tons of plutonium, which is enough to create hundreds of warheads with a tactical yield of several kilotons. Each would be enough to destroy an enemy air base, military, industrial, or logistical facilities.