With the bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum behind Ukraine, it will not accept any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine's full membership in NATO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said in a statement on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum, published on Tuesday morning.

“We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent to further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine's full membership in NATO. With the bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum behind us, we will not accept any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine's full membership in NATO … Inviting Ukraine to join NATO now will become an effective counter to Russian blackmail and will deprive the Kremlin of its illusions about the possibility of hindering Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration,” the statement reads.

The Foreign Ministry stated that the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum is a convenient opportunity to take an effective step towards Ukraine's accession to the Washington Treaty and noted that “it will also be the only chance “to stop the erosion of key principles of nuclear non-proliferation and restore confidence in nuclear disarmament.”

“The Budapest Memorandum failed to prevent the aggression of the Russian Federation, as a nuclear-weapon state, against Ukraine, as a state that has renounced its nuclear arsenal. Even the consultations envisaged by the document, which Ukraine has repeatedly tried to initiate, were not held. Russia's violation of the Budapest Memorandum set a dangerous precedent that undermined confidence in the very idea of nuclear disarmament … Failure of the Budapest Memorandum to fulfill its functions has led to a catastrophic increase in security threats not only for Ukraine, but also for other countries and regions, including Europe, the Euro-Atlantic area, Central and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and international peace and security in general,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed.

The Foreign Ministry called the Budapest Memorandum “a monument to short-sightedness in strategic security decision-making.”

“It should serve as a reminder to the current leaders of the Euro-Atlantic community that building a European security architecture at the expense of Ukraine's interests, rather than taking them into consideration, is destined to failure. Not providing Ukraine with real, effective security guarantees in the 1990s was a strategic mistake that Moscow exploited. This mistake must be corrected. Ukraine must be provided with clear, legally binding security guarantees that align with its significant contribution to global nuclear disarmament and the maintenance of international peace and security,” the statement emphasizes.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on the United States and the United Kingdom, signatories to the Budapest Memorandum, France and China, which have acceded to it, and all states-parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, to support the provision of effective security guarantees to Ukraine.