Fact Sheet

Nuclear Disarmament Ukraine

Part of Nuclear Disarmament Resource Collection

Nuclear Disarmament Ukraine

Arsenal and Missile Types

Arsenal Size

  • Ukraine does not possess nuclear weapons.
  • Ukraine had 1,900 Soviet strategic nuclear warheads and between 2,650 and 4,200 Soviet tactical nuclear weapons deployed on its territory at the time of independence in 1991. 176 Soviet ICBMs (130 SS-19 and 46 SS-24), and 44 strategic bombers were located in Ukraine.

Destructive Power

  • N/A

Capabilities and Developments

Progress in Disarmament

  • In 1991, Ukraine and the other Commonwealth of Independent States signed the Minsk Agreement, agreeing that Russia would take possession of all Soviet nuclear weapons.
  • In 1992, Ukraine signed the Lisbon Protocol, under which it, Belarus, and Kazakhstan were to join START and the NPT.
  • In 1994, the United States, Russia, and Ukraine signed the Trilateral Statement, under which Ukraine committed to eliminate all nuclear weapons on its territory and join the NPT, in exchange for economic support and security assurances from the United States and Russia.
  • In 1994, Ukraine joined the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state. By 1996, Ukraine transferred all Soviet-era strategic warheads to Russia.
  • Ukraine received extensive assistance to dismantle ICBMs, ICBM silos, heavy bombers, and cruise missiles from the U.S. funded Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. ICBM silos were destroyed by 2002, ICBMs were dismantled or transferred to Russia, and heavy bombers were eliminated by 2001.
  • Former President Yanukovych announced at the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit that Ukraine would remove all of its HEU by 2012. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in March 2012 that all of the HEU had been transferred to Russia.

Commitments and Policies

Nuclear Weapons Related Policies

State Party to:

  • Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)
  • Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (PTBT)
  • Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
  • START I (the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) and its Lisbon Protocol
  • Has not signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Voted against a UN General Assembly resolution in October 2023 that called for the adoption of the TPNW.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

  • Some countries (mainly the United States and other NATO members) argue that Russian aggression, including the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, violates the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which Russia had agreed to respect Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty, and to refrain from the threat or use of military force.
  • Since 2022, Russia has used nuclear coercion against Ukraine and NATO. Both the U.S. and China have condemned Russian nuclear threats.
  • In March 2022, Russia seized Zaporizhzhia, one of the four nuclear power plants in Ukraine, in violation with international humanitarian law.
  • In January 2023, Russia claimed that Ukraine was storing weapons on nuclear plant sites. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sent experts to all four Ukraine nuclear plants to minimize risks.

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Glossary

Nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon: A device that releases nuclear energy in an explosive manner as the result of nuclear chain reactions involving fission, or fission and fusion, of atomic nuclei. Such weapons are also sometimes referred to as atomic bombs (a fission-based weapon); or boosted fission weapons (a fission-based weapon deriving a slightly higher yield from a small fusion reaction); or hydrogen bombs/thermonuclear weapons (a weapon deriving a significant portion of its energy from fusion reactions).
Strategic nuclear warhead
Strategic nuclear warhead: A high-yield nuclear warhead placed on a long-range delivery system, such as a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBMs), a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBMs), or a strategic bomber.
Tactical nuclear weapons
Short-range nuclear weapons, such as artillery shells, bombs, and short-range missiles, deployed for use in battlefield operations.
Deployment
The positioning of military forces – conventional and/or nuclear – in conjunction with military planning.
Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM): A ballistic missile with a range greater than 5,500 km. See entry for ballistic missile.
Strategic Bomber
Strategic Bomber: A long-range aircraft designed to drop large amounts of explosive power—either conventional or nuclear—on enemy territory.
Disarmament
Though there is no agreed-upon legal definition of what disarmament entails within the context of international agreements, a general definition is the process of reducing the quantity and/or capabilities of military weapons and/or military forces.
Dismantlement
Dismantlement: Taking apart a weapon, facility, or other item so that it is no longer functional.
Silo
Hardened underground facility for housing and launching a ballistic missile.
Cruise missile
An unmanned self-propelled guided vehicle that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. There are subsonic and supersonic cruise missiles currently deployed in conventional and nuclear arsenals, while conventional hypersonic cruise missiles are currently in development. These can be launched from the air, submarines, or the ground. Although they carry smaller payloads, travel at slower speeds, and cover lesser ranges than ballistic missiles, cruise missiles can be programmed to travel along customized flight paths and to evade missile defense systems.
Cooperative Threat Reduction (Nunn-Lugar) Program
A U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) program established in 1992 by the U.S. Congress, through legislation sponsored primarily by Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar. It is the largest and most diverse U.S. program addressing former Soviet Union weapons of mass destruction threats. The program has focused primarily on: (1) destroying vehicles for delivering nuclear weapons (e.g., missiles and aircraft), their launchers (such as silos and submarines), and their related facilities; (2) securing former Soviet nuclear weapons and their components; and (3) destroying Russian chemical weapons. The term is often used generically to refer to all U.S. nonproliferation programs in the former Soviet Union—and sometimes beyond— including those implemented by the U.S. Departments of Energy, Commerce, and State. The program’s scope has expanded to include threat reduction efforts in geographical areas outside the Former Soviet Union.
Nuclear Security Summits
Nuclear Security Summits: A series of international summits that emerged out of U.S. President Barack Obama's call in April 2009 to "secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years." The summit process focuses on strengthening international cooperation to prevent nuclear terrorism, thwarting nuclear materials trafficking, and enhancing nuclear materials security.
Highly enriched uranium (HEU)
Highly enriched uranium (HEU): Refers to uranium with a concentration of more than 20% of the isotope U-235. Achieved via the process of enrichment. See entry for enriched uranium.
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)
The NPT: Signed in 1968, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is the most widely adhered-to international security agreement. The “three pillars” of the NPT are nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation, and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Article VI of the NPT commits states possessing nuclear weapons to negotiate in good faith toward halting the arms race and the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The Treaty stipulates that non-nuclear-weapon states will not seek to acquire nuclear weapons, and will accept International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards on their nuclear activities, while nuclear weapon states commit not to transfer nuclear weapons to other states. All states have a right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and should assist one another in its development. The NPT provides for conferences of member states to review treaty implementation at five-year intervals. Initially of a 25-year duration, the NPT was extended indefinitely in 1995. For additional information, see the NPT.
Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT)
The PTBT: Also known as the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT), the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water prohibits nuclear weapons tests "or any other nuclear explosion" in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water. While the treaty does not ban tests underground, it does prohibit nuclear explosions in this environment if they cause "radioactive debris to be present outside the territorial limits of the State under whose jurisdiction or control" the explosions were conducted. The treaty is of unlimited duration. For additional information, see the PTBT.
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)
The CTBT: Opened for signature in 1996 at the UN General Assembly, the CTBT prohibits all nuclear testing if it enters into force. The treaty establishes the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) to ensure the implementation of its provisions and verify compliance through a global monitoring system upon entry into force. Pending the treaty’s entry into force, the Preparatory Commission of the CTBTO is charged with establishing the International Monitoring System (IMS) and promoting treaty ratifications. CTBT entry into force is contingent on ratification by 44 Annex II states. For additional information, see the CTBT.
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I, II, & III)
Refers to negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russian Federation, held between 1982 and 1993 to limit and reduce the numbers of strategic offensive nuclear weapons in each country’s nuclear arsenal. The talks culminated in the 1991 START I Treaty, which entered into force in December 1994, and the 1993 START II Treaty. Although START II was ratified by the two countries, it never entered into force. In 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin discussed the possibility of a START III treaty to make further weapons reductions, but negotiations resulted in a stalemate. Following the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) in 2002, Russia declared START II void. START I expired on 5 December 2009, and was followed by the New START treaty. See entries for New START and the Trilateral Statement. For additional information, see the entries for START I, START II, and New START. 

Sources

  1. Joseph Cirincione, Jon B. Wolfsthal, Miriam Rajkumar, Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats, (Washington, DC, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005), p. 373.
  2. Hans M. Kristensen, Alicia Godsberg, Jonathon Garbose, “Ukraine Special Weapons,” Nuclear Information Project: Federation of American Scientists, www.fas.org .
  3. “NNSA Achieves Milestone in Removal of HEU from Ukraine,” National Nuclear Security Administration, 31 December 2010, nnsa.energy.gov.
  4. Pavel Podvig, “Ukraine removed all HEU from its territory,” International Panel on Fissile Materials, 22 March 2012, www.fissilematerials.org.
  5. “Statement by the Representative of the Delegation of Ukraine,” First Committee of the 69th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, 10 October 2014, www.statements.unmeetings.org.
  6. Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes: Ukraine, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, www.nonproliferation.org; Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on Strategic Offensive Reductions (START I), Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), www.nti.org.
  7. “Ukraine,” International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, accessed January 2024, www.icanw.org.
  8. Pierre de Dreuzy and Andrea Gilli, “Russia’s nuclear coercion in Ukraine,” NATO Review, 29 November 2022, www.nato.int.
  9. Mary Glantz, “Russia’s New Nuclear Threat: Power Plants as Weapons,” United States Institute of Peace, 24 August 2022, www.usip.org.
  10. “Russia says Ukraine storing arms at nuclear plants, Kyiv denies claim,” Reuters, 23 January 2023, www.reuters.com.
  11. E. Eduardo Castillo, “Ukraine: Russia put rocket launchers at nuclear power plant,” Associated Press, 8 December 2022, https://apnews.com.
  12. Samya Kullab, “IAEA sends staff to all Ukraine nuclear plants to reduce risk of accidents,” PBS News Hour, 18 January 2023, www.pbs.org.
  13. “Biden and Xi condemn Russian nuclear threats; Zelenskiy visits liberated Kherson – as it happened,” The Guardian, 14 November 2022, www.theguardian.com.

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