Ukraine has enough plutonium to build hundreds of nuclear warheads for rudimentary bombs similar to the first atomic weapons dropped on Japan by the United States in 1945, a new report reveals.
A briefing document prepared for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said kyiv could develop small dirty bombs within months if Donald Trump withdraws US military aid.
Despite giving up its nuclear arsenal in 1996, kyiv still controls nine operational reactors and has significant experience in how to build the weapons.
Ukraine does not have the time or resources to operate the facilities needed to enrich the uranium needed for high-yield nuclear weapons amid the ongoing war.
But Oleksii Yizhak, department head of Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies and author of the paper, said kyiv could extract plutonium from its spent fuel rods at nuclear power plants to create a major arsenal of dirty warheads.
“The amount of material is sufficient for hundreds of warheads with a tactical yield of several kilotons,” Yizhak concluded.
“That would be enough to destroy an entire Russian air base or concentrated military, industrial or logistical facilities.”
The weapon would use similar technology to the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945, according to the report, and each bomb would have about one-tenth the power of the Fat Man.
A mushroom cloud rises after an atomic bomb codenamed ‘Fat Man’ exploded after being dropped by a US Army Air Force B-29 bomber over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945.
Zelensky made an explosive announcement at an EU summit in Brussels, stating that he wanted NATO to allow his country to join the military alliance, or Ukraine would become a nuclear power.
President Vladimir Putin delivers a video speech on the occasion of the Day of the Internal Affairs Officer in Moscow on November 10, 2024.
Replicas of the first atomic bombs, Little Boy, left, was the first nuclear weapon used in war, over Hiroshima, Japan, on the morning of August 6, 1945. Fat Man, right, was used on Nagasaki , Japan, on August 9. , 1945
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets Donald Trump in New York in September
The troubling revelation comes after Trump reportedly endorsed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s shocking ultimatum to NATO last month in which he suggested Ukraine would need to become a nuclear power if it was not granted NATO membership.
Zelensky later clarified that he had meant that there was no alternative security guarantee and kyiv has since denied that they are considering building a nuclear bomb.
According The timesreads the briefing document prepared for the Ministry of Defense: “Creating a simple atomic bomb, as the United States did within the framework of the Manhattan Project, would not be a difficult task 80 years later.”
“The weight of reactor plutonium available to Ukraine can be estimated at seven tons… A significant nuclear weapons arsenal would require much less material,” he continued.
President-elect Trump has promised to end the war between Russia and Ukraine the day after taking office and has boasted of his “very good relationship” with President Putin.
He has also said that the invasion would never have happened if he had been in the White House and has criticized Biden’s level of support for Ukraine, even though President Zelensky is adamantly opposed to ceding territory to Russia.
Last month Zelensky reportedly told NATO to allow his country to join the group or it will get nuclear weapons in a shock ultimatum that was reportedly backed by Trump.
The 46-year-old leader presented his explosive proposal at the EU summit in Brussels: either NATO quickly accepts Ukraine into its alliance or it will once again become a nuclear power, German newspaper Bild reported.
President Donald Trump meets with Vladimir Putin of Russia at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg in July 2017.
The bomb would be large enough to destroy an entire Russian air base or concentrated military or industrial targets, the paper’s authors concluded (file photo).
Zelensky had reportedly planned to present what has been called his “victory plan” to the heads of state and government of the European Union, but instead made the dramatic announcement to stunned journalists.
Speaking to former US President Donald Trump, 78, a few weeks ago, the Ukrainian leader declared: “Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons and then they will be our defense.”
‘Or we will have to enter into some kind of alliance. Apart from NATO, we do not know of any effective alliance today.’
He said Trump had agreed to his proposal before making the statement at the summit, insisting that membership in NATO would provide his country with the maximum security guarantee to protect it from Russia.
Last week it emerged that Trump could propose an 800-mile demilitarized zone between Russia and Ukraine as part of a plan to end the war early.
The plans, which were outlined by three Trump staffers, would involve the area being guarded by British and European troops.
It would mean Russia would maintain its territorial gains made in Ukraine with the current border frozen. Kyiv would also have to ensure that it does not join NATO for 20 years.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 26th artillery brigade fire an AHS Krab self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions near the front line in the Chasiv Yar area
According to the plans, the United States would arm Ukraine in exchange for preventing Russia from restarting the war. However, responsibility for managing and financing the buffer zone would fall solely on Ukraine’s European allies.
“We can provide training and other support, but the barrel of the gun will be European,” a member of Trump’s team told the Wall Street Journal.
‘We will not send American men and women to defend peace in Ukraine. And we are not paying for it. Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it.
Many analysts have warned that Trump is likely to reduce US military aid to Ukraine and force kyiv’s European partners to take on an enormous burden to maintain an adequate weapons supply, a move that would certainly increase pressure on Zelensky to consider a negotiated agreement.
“Trump is right to say that European allies have been underperforming on defense and overly reliant on Uncle Sam to protect them for too long, and this is a big wake-up call for the West,” said Dr. Russell Foster, professor holder of British Sciences. and International Politics at King’s College London, he told MailOnline.
“But Europe, Canada and Australasia have let their defense spending stagnate for so long that they have nowhere near the industrial base or military infrastructure to help defend Ukraine and themselves from further aggression without American help.
“We are likely to see large demands for defense spending and investment across NATO, but this will take years and will be enormously costly at a time of economic stagnation. The future of Western defense now looks very bleak.”