Bill Clinton admits regret for having Ukraine give up nuclear weapons

New York Post ^ | April 5, 2023 | Victor Nava

[MinorityRepublican]

Former President Bill Clinton has expressed remorse over his role in negotiating a 1994 deal that resulted in Ukraine giving up its nuclear arsenal, suggesting that Russia never would have invaded its smaller neighbor if it still had nukes.

“I feel a personal stake because I got them [Ukraine] to agree to give up their nuclear weapons. And none of them believe that Russia would have pulled this stunt if Ukraine still had their weapons,” Clinton told Irish broadcaster RTE in an interview that aired Tuesday.

The 42nd president was referencing a landmark post-Cold War deal in which then-Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk agreed to surrender roughly 1,900 nuclear warheads in exchange for security assurances from the US and United Kingdom, as well as a commitment from Russia to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

The pact, known as the Budapest Memorandum, was violated in 2014 when Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea.

In February 2022, Putin once again flouted the agreement when he invaded Ukraine, calling it a “special military operation.”

“I knew that President Putin did not support the agreement [then-Russian] President [Boris] Yeltsin made never to interfere with Ukraine’s territorial boundaries – an agreement he made because he wanted Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons,” Clinton said.

“They were afraid to give them up because they thought that’s the only thing that protected them from an expansionist Russia,” he added.

The former president remarked that he felt “terrible” that the deal was shattered and that Ukraine had little to offer as a deterrent to Putin’s invading forces.

[woweeitsme]

Eh...good point. I would just think having them right on their doorstep would be “taunting” in a different way.

[Vaduz]

He’s a master of bad choices one more never matters to him.

[dfwgator]

Is he going to blame Janet Reno for that, too?

[MinorityRepublican]

Ukraine never had physical let alone operational control over a single nuclear weapon ever. The Ukrainian government nor the Ukrainian military ever had any abuility to operate or deploy a nuke.

That's incorrect.

Ukraine had the physical possession of the nukes.

But they did not have the codes.

[MinorityRepublican]

🚨NEW: Stephen A. Smith *BLAMES DEMS* for Russia-Ukraine War🚨

"We ain't gon' act like [Trump] caused this now. It's Democrats in office."

"It was Biden in office when a full-fledged war against Ukraine took place — courtesy of Russia's instigation — no matter what they try to say to Trump."

"It was Russia that invaded Crimea — and that was under the Obama administration!"

"It was Clinton in office when you made a deal that disarmed the Ukraine — and therefore weakened them — leaving them dependent on the United States!" pic.twitter.com/xC5iO3wJIQ— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) August 19, 2025