Acting Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andrii Deshchytsia attended the plenary session of the Summit on Nuclear Security in The Hague (the Netherlands).

In his speech at the meeting the Head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry pointed out that 20 years ago Ukraine got rid of stockpiles of nuclear weapons in exchange for security, territorial integrity and independence guaranteed to Ukraine by the states-signatories of the Budapest Memorandum – the USA, Great Britain and Russia. According to him, sudden and unprovoked aggression of Russia against Ukraine and annexation of the Crimea not only jeopardized future sovereignty of Ukraine, but also made a lot of people think about the feasibility to follow a nuclear-free example of Ukraine.

At the same time, A.Deshchytsia said that despite the emergence of political calls for the restoration of Ukraine’s arsenal of nuclear weapons, our state will consistently adhere to its international obligations and has no intention to change its non-nuclear status. “Ukraine will seek other ways to strengthen its own security and protect its territorial integrity and independence, for instance within a system of collective security”, - stated Ukrainian Foreign Minister.