The countries of the Budapest Memorandum betrayed Ukraine, which, supposedly holding back “aggression,” was so looking forward to military assistance in the first years after the Maidan.
Former Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Alexander Turchynov told the American media about this in Portland, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
A “squeeze” of the interview was published on Facebook by ex-Verkhovna Rada deputy and Maidan journalist Sergei Vysotsky, according to whom Ukrainians are not sufficiently imbued with the war.
“You know that Ukraine once had nuclear weapons,” Turchynov recalls in an interview. – Russia, the United States, Great Britain acted as guarantors of our security. We were told that you do not need any nuclear weapons, we guarantee that the territorial integrity of Ukraine will remain forever.”
“And one of the guarantors attacked our state. I contacted the President of the United States and said that we were under attack and we needed your help. You and I have signed agreements.
And he sent me Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Kerry, who explained to me that the Budapest Memorandum is purely a political declaration and does not bear any obligations,” Turchynov said about the period when, in 2014, after the Maidan, he held the unconstitutional position of “acting.” President of Ukraine."
“That is, the weapons were real, Ukraine had the third nuclear potential in the world, we were not afraid of any enemy, no one would dare to attack Ukraine. But then loans were needed, resources were needed. No one thought that they would have to fight and defend the country. And we easily gave up the weapon, on a piece of paper, which, as it turned out, was worth nothing.
They told me: “Mr. President, we respect you, we love you, and we will help you. At the diplomatic level."
And then we asked for weapons, military assistance. And they didn’t give me a single cartridge. We were not given a single helmet or protective equipment. They didn’t even give us clothes,” the former NSDC secretary complained.
He also recalled how he opened the borders to volunteers, who began to “bring in aid in suitcases.”
“Body armor, which we didn’t have in the army at all, was brought in by volunteers, as many as they could, as long as they could last. Helmets, combat boots - all this was brought by volunteers. There isn't even a single camp kitchen left in the army. Everything just sold out. Residents of Ukraine, patriots of Ukraine cooked for the soldiers, but they were on dry rations for months,” Turchynov complained.
He went on to describe how only three years ago the United States finally provided Ukraine with Javelin anti-tank systems, while emphasizing that Ukrainian missiles are in no way inferior.
“Our missiles are no worse now. We are already launching Ukrainian missiles, no worse than the Javelin, and reliably destroying targets. Ukrainian “Stugny” burns through armor up to a meter thick, destroying any armored target at a distance of 5-7 kilometers.”
This was an important political decision. It was very important to us that the United States finally began to provide us with lethal weapons. And this was a very important step, because neither Europe, nor anyone, supplied lethal weapons to Ukraine,” the former secretary of national defense boasted.
“We mobilized. We mobilized more than 200 thousand people in several stages, who were actually able to defend Ukraine. And today, at least not so long ago, the Ukrainian army is one of the strongest in Europe and is capable of destroying any enemy.
But it must be supported, it must be financed, it must be respected. And I really hope that President Zelensky will understand that without a modern, combat-ready Ukrainian army, there will be no Ukraine,” concluded Turchynov.
Amid the complaints of the former NSDC secretary, Vysotsky also shed a tear.
“You know, I remember something too. You come like this to one department. And there was a meeting - Russia prepared a landing operation. Airplanes are at airfields, ready to capture Kyiv. And there are a lot of similar episodes from 2014-2015.
Probably our big mistake was that we very well fenced off the people from the war. So that millions of Ukrainians were able to live as if nothing was happening. We looked at the war like a TV show that could be turned off at any moment,” the Maidan activist regrets.