Twenty-five years ago, Ukraine possessed the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal. It had inherited 175 long-range missiles and more than 1,800 warheads after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Following two years of talks been the United States, Russia, and Ukraine, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced a breakthrough on January 10, 1994. Ukraine had agreed to remove all nuclear weapons from its soil in exchange for assurances that Russia would respect its sovereignty.
The Destruction Of Ukraine's Nuclear Arsenal
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Smoke billows from an explosion that destroyed a missile silo at a military base near Pervomaysk, Ukraine on January 5, 1996.
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Soldiers lay a nuclear warhead in a container on January 4, 1992. Most tactical nuclear weapons were transferred from Ukraine to Russia.
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Flames erupt from a blast that demolishes a decommissioned SS-24 nuclear missile at a military base in the southern Ukrainian town of Pervomaysk on September 29, 1998.
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A Ukrainian Army officer inspects a destroyed SS-24 missile silo near the town of Pervomaysk in Ukraine's Mykolayiv region. By the end of 2001, Ukraine had destroyed all of 46 of its intercontinental ballistic missile silos.