29 years ago, on June 1, 1996, Ukraine lost the status of a nuclear state. On that day, the last echelon with nuclear warheads left the territory of Ukraine and went to the Russian Federation. Thus, the process that many experts are called a historical strategic mistake today ended.
The deputy of five convocations and the head of the delegation on nuclear disarmament Yuriy Kostenko told about this turning point in the history of Ukraine "24 Channel".
At the time of declaration of independence, Ukraine had a third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. These were: 176 intercontinental missiles, including 130 Liquid SS-19 (6 warheads) and 46 solid fuel SS-24 (10 warheads), 30–43 strategic Tu-95MC and Tu-160 strategic bombers, up to 2156 strategic and 4200. Initially, the United States insisted on immediate disarmament. However, the American company General Atomics has subsequently proposed technologies that would allow Ukraine to destroy the warriors on its own - without passing them on Russia. This perspective was concerned about the Kremlin, which began to press on Kyiv through diplomatic and political channels. According to Kostenko, Russia deliberately destroyed coordination between Kiev and Washington, which began to be formed in 1993. According to him, Viceremier Valery Shmarov, heading the delegation from disarmament, pushed the decision to complete the full transfer of all Russian warheads - without the consent of the parliament.
After that, according to Kostenko, the United States "turned" from Ukraine, which remained in the geopolitical orbit of Russia. And the Budapest Memorandum, which was to become a guarantee of security, eventually turned out to be "not worth the paper", as the Western media repeatedly noted.
