The High Representative for Disarmament Affairs notes “arguments that a nuclear Ukraine would be safer today are fallacies.”

The High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, provided the following comments on her Twitter page.

Ukraine made the right decision in 1994 to completely denuclearize for its own & our collective security. Arguments that a nuclear Ukraine would be safer today are fallacies. Nuclear weapons do not make anyone safer. In fact, nuclear weapons pose an existential threat to all.

Ukraine inherited an aging nuclear arsenal over which it did not have operational control and could not have safely maintained. Had Ukraine attempted to keep those nuclear weapons, it would only have resulted in greater danger for Ukraine, the region, and the world.

Nuclear weapons cannot prevent armed conflict among States. Nuclear weapons heighten the risk of miscalculation that could end life on earth. We must accelerate all our efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons and ensure full implementation of the UN Charter.

- Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and High Representative.

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