Trump envoy claims Kyiv’s warheads handed to Moscow were Russian, not Ukrainian

Richard Grenell, Donald Trump’s Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions, asserted that nuclear weapons Ukraine relinquished to Russia under the Budapest Memorandum were Russian property—not Ukrainian in a post on X on Tuesday.

Grenell argued that the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which Ukraine denuclearized, involved returning "Russian" weapons left from Soviet times.

"Let’s be clear about the Budapest Memorandum: the nukes were Russia’s and were leftovers. Ukraine gave the nukes back to Russia. They weren’t Ukraine’s," he wrote, calling it an "uncomfortable fact."

His claim reignites debate over the historic agreement, where Ukraine surrendered the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal for security assurances from Russia, the U.S., and the U.K.—assurances Moscow later violated with its 2014 and 2022 invasions.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer, a key negotiator of the memorandum, fired back, labeling Grenell "flat wrong."

Pifer clarified that the warheads were "ex-Soviet, not Russian," and under Ukraine’s sole custody post-1991.

He explained that Ukraine dismantled intercontinental ballistic missiles and bombers, sending only a fraction of warheads to Russia "for debt relief."

"Ukraine chose to send nuclear warheads to Russia for elimination in large part because Russia committed to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and not to use force against Ukraine," said former envoy.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda on March 13 urged U.S. nuclear deployments in his country.

The Financial Times on March 24 warned Trump’s policies could swell nuclear-armed states to 25.

U.S. intelligence on March 25 flagged Vladimir Putin’s potential nuclear threat against Ukraine.