National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has denied that Ukraine could receive its nuclear weapons, courtesy of the Biden administration.

Sullivan was questioned about the cache of weapons in light of the years-long conflict Ukraine has been locked in with Russia, as The New York Post reported.

The stockpile of weapons were given up by the Eastern European nation three decades ago following the fall of the Soviet Union.

Questions from Reporters

A New York Times reporter questioned anonymous officials who had voiced the idea that Ukraine might receive the nuclear weapons once again.

The weapons would allegedly be used by Ukraine as a form of discouragement for Russia, who seems set on annexing Ukraine.

“That is not under consideration. No,” Sullivan said during an episode of ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday when asked about the report.

“What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine so that they can effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians, not nuclear capability.”

More Reports

According to two anonymous US officials quoted by the Associated Press (AP) on November 19, the US is planning to ship Ukraine new weaponry worth at least $275 million.

At the same time, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller announced on November 20 that the government is moving to waive some $4.7 billion in U.S. loans that were extended to Ukraine.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Biden has been an important supporter of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

It is uncertain whether the United States will continue to back Ukraine in the battle when President-elect Donald Trump takes office soon.

Trump's Response

The military assistance that the Biden administration provided to Ukraine, amounting to billions of dollars, has been condemned by Trump.

There are concerns that the president-elect might pressure Zelensky into giving up the region that Russia now occupies, given his statement that the war between the two nations would cease "within 24 hours" if he were to negotiate with Putin and Zelensky.

 More from Sullivan

Sullivan claims that the current administration, which is in the midst of assisting Ukraine before the Trump administration takes office, has no plans to return nuclear weapons to the country, no matter how much the Biden administration is trying.

"What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine, so that they could effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians. Not nuclear capability."

Weapons Removal

In 1994, Ukraine renounced its nuclear weapons as part of the Budapest Memorandum.

Kyiv possessed the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world at the time after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, as thousands of nuclear armaments were abandoned in the country.

The Budapest Memorandum confirmed Ukraine's security and sovereignty in exchange for the surrender of its nuclear stocks.

Russia, which acquired the Soviet Union's nuclear warheads, is in possession of the largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.

According to a March 2024 report from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Moscow has about 5,580 nuclear warheads.