Nuclear

Ukraine inherited a sizeable nuclear weapons arsenal from the former Soviet Union in the form of 130 SS-19 and 46 SS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with 1,240 warheads, and 44 Tupolev-95 and Tupolev-160 strategic bombers (with 1,081 nuclear cruise missiles).[1] Kiev also possessed an unspecified number of tactical nuclear warheads. However, Ukraine acceded to START I in 1992 and joined the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state in 1994, choosing to give up the nuclear weapons it had inherited. By June 1996, Ukraine had completed the transfer of approximately 1,900 strategic nuclear weapons to Russia (in return for nuclear reactor fuel), and deactivated all 176 ICBM silos located on its territory.[2]

As of October 2010, Ukraine's nuclear activities remain solely for peaceful purposes. Following a number of energy disputes with Moscow, the Ukrainian government is attempting to diversify its reactor fuel suppliers to reduce reliance on the Russian company TVEL. In a bid to achieve this diversification, October 2010 saw Ukraine's state-run nuclear energy firm Yadernoye Toplivo purchase a 10% share in the international nuclear fuel repository planned for Angarsk, Russia.[3]

Biological

Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has not engaged in offensive or defensive biological weapons activities. Although some Ukrainian anti-plague research facilities were historically involved in Soviet defensive biological warfare (BW) activities, they were mainly responsible for civilian epidemiological investigations.[4] However, as with other Soviet anti-plague institutes, the Ukrainian anti-plague facilities may have provided virulent strains to the USSR Ministry of Defense or Biopreparat. They may also have developed vaccines against, and diagnostic materials for, pathogens weaponized by the Soviet military.[5]

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukrainian officials publicly stated that they viewed biological weapons proliferation as a threat to Ukraine's national security. Moreover, Ukraine is a member of the BTWC. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Ukraine does not have a BW program and has no intention of establishing one.[6] Under an August 2005 Cooperative Threat Reduction agreement, the United States has been funding security upgrades at Ukrainian biological institutes where dangerous pathogens are kept.[7][8] In June 2010, a new disease research laboratory named the "Interim Central Reference Laboratory" opened in Odessa as part of the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program. The laboratory will study biological agents such as tularemia, anthrax and Q-fever.[9]

Chemical

Since gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine has not engaged in offensive or defensive chemical warfare (CW) activities. Prior to 1991, however, its territory was used by the Soviet government for chemical weapons storage and testing. The Red Army conducted marine tests with experimental chemical weapons in the Black Sea near the cities of Odesa and Sevastopol. The USSR also established storage sites in Zolotonosha (Cherkasy oblast), Ochakiv (on the Dnepr estuary and on the Black Sea), and Fastiv (Kiev oblast).[10] Ukraine transferred all of the chemical weapons on its territory to Russia by January 1992. Kiev is a party to the CWC, which it ratified in 1998.

Missile

Ukraine inherited significant ICBM design and production capabilities from the Soviet Union. These included the Pivdenne (formerly Yuzhnoye) Design Bureau, responsible for the design of the SS-18 and the SS-24 ICBMs, and the Pivdenmash (formerly Yuzhmash) Machine-Building Plant, which was the primary producer of liquid-fueled ICBMs such as the SS-18.[11] Other former Soviet missile industrial complex facilities in Ukraine include the Pavlohrad Chemical and Mechanical Plants, which were also involved in ICBM manufacture, and the Khartron Production Association, which produced guidance systems. As of October 2010, these enterprises, particularly Yuzhmash, remain involved in a variety of space projects, including cooperation with Russian firms on the conversion of ICBMs such as the SS-18 into space launch vehicles (SLVs).[12] As a result, Ukraine maintains a significant infrastructure for the manufacture of rocketry. Ukraine is a member of the MTCR and has signed the HCOC.

Sources:
[1] Mykola Riabchuk, "Ukraine's Nuclear Nostalgia," World Policy Journal, Winter 2009-2010, p. 95.
[2] "Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus," U.S. Department of Defense, www.dod.gov.
[3] "Ukraine Purchase Stake in International Nuclear Fuel Bank," Global Security Newswire, 8 October 2010, www.nti.org.
[4] Ukraine Ministry of Health, "I.I. Mechnikov Anti-Plague Scientific and Research Institute of Ukraine," Odessa, 2003.
[5] Serguei Popov and Marina Voronova, "Russian Bioweapons: Still the Best-Kept Secret?" The Nonproliferation Review, Fall 2004, Vol. 11, No. 3.
[6] "Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus," U.S. Department of Defense, www.dod.gov.
[7] Roger Roffey, Wilhelm Unge, Jenny Clevstrom and Kristina Westerdahl, Support to Threat Reduction of the Russian Biological Weapons Legacy - Conversion, Biodefence and the Role of Biopreparat, (Umeå: Swedish Defense Research Agency, 2003).
[8] "U.S., Ukraine Sign Agreement to Counter Threat of Bioterrorism," America.gov, 29 August 2005, www.america.gov.
[9] "Germ Research Lab Opens in Ukraine," Global Security Newswire, 16 June 2010, www.nti.org.
[10] Lev Fedorov, Khimicheskoye oruzhiye v Rossii: istoirya, ekologiya, politika [Chemical Weapons in Russia: History, Ecology, Politics], (Moscow: Center of Ecological Policy of Russia, 1994).
[11] Nikolai Sokov, "Ukraine: A Postnuclear Country," in Forecasting Nuclear Proliferation in the 21st Century: Volume 2 A Comparative Perspective, eds. William Potter and Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova, (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2010), p.259.
[12] Nikolai Sokov, "Ukraine: A Postnuclear Country," in Forecasting Nuclear Proliferation in the 21st Century: Volume 2 A Comparative Perspective, eds. William Potter and Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova, (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2010), p.259.