Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky walks back after demanding NATO membership and nuclear weapons as Trump says the conflict with Russia is a lost cause
Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky has denied the country has been seeking to develop nuclear weapons, somewhat contradicting statements he made earlier in the day.
Zelensky made the remarks on Thursday during a joint press conference with newly-appointed NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Brussels, Belgium. Asked about Ukraine’s potential aspirations to go nuclear, Zelensky flatly denied them.
“Sometimes we create ourselves problems. Now you began to do it. So, we never spoke about that we are preparing to create a nuclear weapon or something like this,” Zelensky stated.
“That’s why I said I don’t have an alternative except NATO. That was my signal, but we don’t do nuclear weapons. Please don’t move these messages,” he added.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky during a press conference in Brussels, Belgium on October 17, 2024. © Thierry Monasse / Getty Images
The remarks appeared to contradict a statement made by Zelensky earlier in the day, when the Ukrainian leader claimed the country has only two options to ensure its security – either to join NATO or go nuclear.
“Speaking to Donald Trump, I told him, ‘What is the way out for us?’ Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, and they will serve as protection, or we need to be in some kind of alliance. We don’t know any effective alliances except NATO,” he said, adding that Kiev has chosen to become a NATO member.
During his appearance on PBD Podcast, hosted by Patrick Bet-David, on Thursday, Trump noted the lavish military aid provided to Kiev by Washington amid the fighting with Moscow as an example of the wastefulness of the administration of US President Joe Biden.
Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in New York. © Getty Images / Alex Kent
Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, are “the worst president and vice president in history,”he said. “It is so bad what they are doing to our country on the borders; it is so bad what they are doing with the money.”
“Zelensky is one of the greatest salesmen I have ever seen. Every time he comes in [to the US] we give him a hundred billion dollars. Who else got that kind of money in history?” the former president stressed.
“That does not mean I do not want to help him because I feel very badly for those people [in Ukraine]. But he should never have let that war start. That war is a loser,” he said.
However, later in the conversation, the Republican presidential candidate said: “I do largely blame Biden” for the outbreak of the fighting between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. “If you watch his words [in the run up to the conflict], his words were the exact opposite of what he should have been saying. He instigated that war…. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is no angel, but everything Biden said was wrong,”Trump pointed out. “That should have never happened,” he said of the fighting between Russia and Ukraine.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is “getting really bad. You could have World War Three,” he warned.
“It should have never happened. If I were president that war would have never happened. Putin would have never done it,” the Republican presidential nominee insisted.
The US is “not respected” anymore on the international stage due to the actions of the Biden administration, but “the world is going to behave” if he wins the November 5 election, Trump insisted.
“I think I will settle the Russia-Ukraine [conflict], while I am president-elect,” the Republican nominee said, reiterating a claim he made earlier on a number of occasions.
“I met with Zelensky the other day [in New York in late September]. I have a good relationship with Putin and with Zelensky,” he said, without elaborating on how exactly he is going to persuade the sides to cease hostilities.
When commenting on media reports of Trump’s team developing a road map for settling the Ukrainian conflict in June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that “the value of any plan lies in the details and whether it takes into account the situation on the battlefield.” He reiterated that Moscow remained ready for negotiations,
Ukraine has long claimed it had previously been among major nuclear powers, with its arsenal surrendered under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. The document involved the US, UK, and Russia extending security assurances to Kiev in return for the removal of the weaponry. However, Kiev was never actually in control of the nuclear weapons, which were the leftovers of the Soviet arsenal that ended up in Ukrainian territory after the collapse of the union.
Zelensky had previously repeatedly invoked the nuclear weapons issues, openly expressing regret over Kiev’s decision to surrender the arsenal shortly before the conflict with Russia broke out in February 2022. At the time, he claimed the country had “every right” to reverse the decision and go nuclear.
Source X/RT/AFP/Reuters