The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry responded to The Times article regarding the alleged development of nuclear weapons.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to an article by the British newspaper The Times regarding the alleged intentions of Kyiv to develop nuclear weapons.

The agency emphasized that Ukraine is not developing and has no plans to develop such weapons.

“Ukraine is closely cooperating with the IAEA and is completely transparent for its monitoring, which makes it impossible to use nuclear materials for military purposes,” Ukrainian media quoted the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Georgiy Tikhiy.

The Times, in an article titled “Zelensky's Nuclear Option: Ukraine Just Months Away from Possessing a Bomb,” essentially does not claim that Ukraine is creating or intends to create nuclear weapons, according to the BBC.

The newspaper merely summarizes a non-classified memo for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which states that Ukraine could theoretically, in the event of a halt in military supplies from the United States, relatively quickly develop a simple plutonium nuclear warhead by taking material from the spent fuel of its nuclear power plants.

“The estimated weight of plutonium available to Ukraine is about 7 tons. This is enough to create hundreds of warheads with a tactical yield of several kilotons,” the document notes.

Background. The day before, The Times reported that Ukraine could create a nuclear bomb within a few months. This could happen if the United States stops military assistance to Kyiv, stated the Ministry of Defense.

Recall that in October, Bild, citing an unnamed Ukrainian official, reported that Ukraine has all the resources and necessary knowledge to create nuclear weapons and could manufacture a bomb within a few weeks.

In the same month, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated that if the country does not become a NATO member, Kyiv would begin developing its own nuclear weapons.