One possible security guarantee for Ukraine would be the deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory, former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and now Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom Valerii Zaluzhny wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
Zaluzhny’s article reflects on the causes of the war, analyzes the Ukrainian army’s preparedness for the 2022 invasion, and outlines the conditions for establishing a future peace.
According to Zaluzhny, war “does not always end with one side’s victory and the other’s defeat,” and Ukraine cannot dismiss the possibility of a “protracted” end to the war. But peace — “even while waiting for the next war” — offers a chance for political change, deep reforms, full recovery, economic growth, and the return of citizens, Zaluzhny writes.
He notes that it is possible to speak of building a safe and well-protected state through innovation and technology; strengthening the foundations of justice through fighting corruption and creating an honest judicial system; and fostering economic development — including through international reconstruction programs. But none of this is possible without effective security guarantees.
Such security guarantees, he argues, could include Ukraine’s accession to NATO, the deployment of nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory, or the stationing of a large allied military contingent capable of deterring Russia.
Ukraine relinquished nuclear weapons under the Budapest Memorandum, signed in December 1994, in exchange for guarantees of its territorial integrity. The document was also signed by Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has said he “feels terrible” for having persuaded Ukraine’s leadership to give up the Soviet nuclear arsenal.
The possibility of deploying nuclear weapons in Ukraine has surfaced before, after Russia’s full-scale invasion. In particular, President Volodymyr Zelensky raised it in February 2025 in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, calling it a “fair question” if Ukraine’s NATO membership were to take years or decades.
