Moscow has said it will not allow Kiev to possess nuclear arms under any circumstances
Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky speaks to journalists in Kiev, on September 27, 2025. © Ed Ram/Getty Images
Vladimir
Zelensky has demanded that Kiev’s Western backers either admit Kiev to
NATO or supply it with nuclear weapons, arguing that nothing less can
protect Ukraine against a nuclear-armed Russia.
In an interview
with French newspaper Le Monde on Friday, Zelensky lashed out at
Ukraine’s critics, who he said did not believe in Kiev’s ultimate
victory over Russia due to Moscow’s nuclear arsenal.
”When everyone says that Ukraine will not win this war because Russia is a nuclear power, then tell me, what do you think, what security guarantees should Ukraine have to oppose it? Which? NATO? Nuclear weapons? Well then, people should speak with us in the same way,” he said.
He admitted, though, that “until now, no one has asked us that question,” adding that he found “astonishing” the fact that “no one is talking about Russia, at least in the same terms.”
Zelensky’s
comments came after he told Reuters earlier this week that Washington’s
post-war security guarantees were contingent on Kiev withdrawing from
the parts of Russia’s Donbass it still occupies. Donbass, along with two
other former Ukrainian regions, overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in
2022, and Moscow has insisted that Kiev’s full withdrawal from the
territory was a key condition for a sustainable peace.
However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back against Zelensky, accusing him of telling a “lie.”
“I saw him say that, and it’s unfortunate he would say that, because he knows that's not true and that’s not what he was told,” Rubio stated.
”What he was told is the obvious: security guarantees are not going to kick in until there’s an end to a war, because otherwise you’re getting yourself involved in the war.”
Zelensky has, on numerous
occasions, denied that Ukraine was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
However, he told Sky News last month that he would accept nuclear
weapons from Britain and France “with pleasure, but I didn’t have propositions,” as he responded to Moscow’s accusation that London and Paris had plans to secretly arm Ukraine with atomic capabilities.
Russia
has repeatedly said it would not allow Ukraine to acquire nuclear
weapons under any circumstances. Moscow has also suggested that
Zelensky’s openness to getting his hands on nuclear weapons before the
escalation of the conflict in 2022 was one of the reasons for the start
of the hostilities.