Ukraine never had a nuclear arsenal on its own. It was controlled by Moscow. Similarly there are nukes stationed in North Dakota. If North Dakota decided to become an independent state would it assume control of the nukes. No, they they are under the command of Moscow.
Ukraine had full physical control of 1/3rd of the USSR’s nuclear stockpile, although operational control was blocked by electronic safeguards. The ability to physically bypass those safeguards meant in time they were going to achieve operational control of the nuclear stockpile under their possession, which is exactly why the Budapest Memorandum was signed in the first place. If the nuclear weapons in Ukraine would not have been of any geopolitical significance, there would not have been a joint effort to disarm them.
Ukraine never had a nuclear arsenal on its own. It was controlled by Moscow. Similarly there are nukes stationed in North Dakota. If North Dakota decided to become an independent state would it assume control of the nukes. No, they they are under the command of Moscow.
Ukraine had full physical control of 1/3rd of the USSR’s nuclear stockpile, although operational control was blocked by electronic safeguards. The ability to physically bypass those safeguards meant in time they were going to achieve operational control of the nuclear stockpile under their possession, which is exactly why the Budapest Memorandum was signed in the first place. If the nuclear weapons in Ukraine would not have been of any geopolitical significance, there would not have been a joint effort to disarm them.