It limited the number of ICBMs and nuclear warheads that the countries could possess. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) was a bilateral treaty signed by former U.S. What is the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty? dissolution, Ukraine had an estimated 1,900 strategic warheads, 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), and 44 strategic bombers, according to the Arms Control Association of the U.S. Things, however, changed when the country became a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1994 alongside Belarus and Kazakhstan, the other two countries that were left with nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union.Īt the time of U.S.S.R. When did Ukraine give up its nuclear weapons?Īt the time of its independence from the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine had the third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. Loud blasts were heard from the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa.Īs Ukraine battles powerful Russian armed forces, leaders of the country have expressed regrets about giving up their nuclear weapons which they believe might have held off an invasion of their territory by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The act was described as a “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” by the country’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The story so far: Russia has launched a large-scale military operation against Ukraine.