Ukraine As First 21st Century C.E. Nuclear-Weapon Free Safe House

"When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world—larger than those of Great Britain, France and China combined. Intricate negotiations ensued in bilateral channels, followed in 1993-94 by a trilateral U.S.-Ukrainian-Russian process. That process successfully negotiated the removal of the weapons, with Ukraine receiving security assurances, compensation for the value of the highly-enriched uranium in the nuclear warheads, and assistance in eliminating the nuclear delivery systems and infrastructure that it had inherited."


Brookings Arms Control series paper “The Trilateral Process: The United States, Ukraine, Russia and Nuclear Weapons.”