On 23 May, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha met with Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) Robert Floyd, who arrived in Ukraine on a visit.

The parties agreed on the invaluable contribution that the CTBT makes to international peace and security through establishing powerful norms against nuclear testing and also discussed current challenges to non-proliferation efforts.

Andrii Sybiha reaffirmed Ukraine's unwavering support of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission's activities aimed at banning all nuclear tests, including tests in outer space.

"As a State that voluntarily renounced the third largest nuclear arsenal and acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear weapon State, Ukraine opposes any nuclear weapons tests and strongly supports nuclear disarmament in accordance with Article VI of the NPT," Andrii Sybiha emphasised.

The danger posed by the Russian Federation's decision to withdraw its ratification of the CTBT was separately noted. The aggressor state has already provoked a dangerous imbalance and undermined the existing architecture of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The decision of the Russian Federation to suspend its participation in the new Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the declaration of intentions to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus is another provocative step by the criminal Putin regime, which undermines the principles of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the architecture of nuclear disarmament and the international security system as a whole.

Such behavior of the Russian Federation requires the international community, in particular, the CTBTO member states, to act more decisively and unitedly in matters of countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and restoring nuclear security. It was emphasized that the importance of this issue was reflected in the Peace Formula of the President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, one of the points of which is radiation and nuclear safety.

As a result of the Russian invasion, Russian occupation forces damaged, among other, the Ukrainian seismic station PS45 and the National Data Center, which are part of the international monitoring system of the CTBTO. In this regard, Andrii Sybiha expressed his gratitude for the technical assistance provided to Ukraine by the Preparatory Commission of the CTBTO, including for the restoration of the mentioned Ukrainian facilities, and expressed hope for further cooperation.