Ukrainian nuclear bomb. New surge of gossip

The Times writes, citing experts, that Ukraine can make a small nuclear bomb.

The Western press is again linking Ukraine’s renewed nuclear capability. This time, The Times reported that Ukraine is allegedly capable of creating a nuclear warhead and a strategic long-range missile flying at a distance of 1 thousand km. Thanks to these capabilities, military bases and other facilities of the Russian Armed Forces are under threat.

plutonium bomb

Ukrainian industry has the opportunity in the near future to create a nuclear bomb similar to the one dropped by the United States 80 years ago on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. In general, there are enough reserves of plutonium to create hundreds of warheads. The Times, in providing this information, refers to a report summarizing Ukraine’s nuclear capabilities. The journalists reported that they had access to a report prepared for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. The report indicates that it is possible to restore the Ukrainian nuclear arsenal. The smallest warhead, similar to the “Fat Man” used on Nagasaki in 1945, will be created “within months.” The authors of the report believe that the country is capable enough to replicate the technology invented 80 years ago in the Manhattan Project. The source of the plutonium for the warhead was “spent fuel rods taken from Ukrainian nuclear reactors,” the report said.

Fat Man’s power is 21 kt, weight is 4,600 kg, length is 3.25 m, diameter is 1.52 m The nuclear explosion killed 70 thousand people.

The text of the document states that Ukraine has seven tons of reactor-grade plutonium. This amount of material can be used to create hundreds of warheads and restore the lost nuclear arsenal. This power would be enough to destroy a Russian military base or other military facility, said one of the authors of the report, Alexey Yizhak, head of a department at the National Institute for Strategic Studies of Ukraine, in journalists.

Official position

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Speaker Georgy Tikhy denied the publication that Ukraine could allegedly develop an elementary nuclear bomb using plutonium if newly elected US President Donald Trump stops military aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine adheres to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

“We do not possess, develop or intend to create nuclear weapons. Ukraine closely cooperates with the IAEA and is completely transparent for its monitoring, which does not include the use of nuclear materials for military purposes,” said said Tikhy.

On October 17, the German tabloid Bild wrote that Ukraine is capable of restoring its nuclear arsenal within weeks. On the same day, the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, in a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, said that Ukraine has never said that it is preparing to develop nuclear weapons.

Zelensky believes that Ukraine should be in NATO, and the argument for this is that when the Budapest Memorandum was signed, “we provided nuclear weapons and guaranteed security and territorial integrity.”