Zelenskyy says Budapest Memorandum failed, urges new security framework
Photo: Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Vitalii Nosach / RBC-Ukraine)
The Budapest Memorandum has failed and turned into empty words, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine is building a new security architecture, citing his address at the UN Security Council high-level meeting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Budapest Memorandum, which was intended to guarantee Ukraine’s security in exchange for giving up nuclear weapons, had failed. He stressed that the agreement demonstrated how international promises could turn into empty words.
Zelenskyy explained that Ukraine, together with the United Kingdom, France, and more than 30 other countries in a coalition of partners, was now working to build a new security architecture, with expectations of strong support from the United States. He emphasized that real security guarantees should serve as a boundary that Russia would never again be able to cross.
Budapest Memorandum
The Budapest Memorandum was an international agreement signed on December 5, 1994, by Ukraine, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. In return for relinquishing its nuclear weapons, Ukraine was promised guarantees of territorial integrity, sovereignty, and security.
The Office of the President noted that the memorandum had never functioned in practice and that all its signatories were aware of this.
Zelenskyy has recently underlined that to end the current war, Ukraine requires legally binding security guarantees from key European countries and the United States, rather than another memorandum like Budapest’s.
