KYIV  -  Ukraine is not requesting nuclear weapons from Western partners to defend itself against Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in comments released Tuesday.

“We are not asking for nuclear weapons to be given to us,” Zelensky told journalists, a few days after suggesting Kyiv would seek either NATO membership or nuclear arms. Ukraine inherited the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. It surrendered the weapons three years later after receiving security guarantees from Russia and the United States. The security guarantees, known as the Budapest Memorandum, required that the signatories respect Ukraine and the other ex-Soviet republics’ territorial integrity and independence.

“We gave away nuclear weapons. We did not get NATO,” Zelensky said in the comments to journalists late Monday that were released under embargo. “All we got was a full-scale war and many victims, so today we have only one way out.” “We need NATO, because we don’t have the weapons that can stop Putin,” he added.

Says Ukraine peace talks with Russia ‘depend’ on US election

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the prospect of peace talks with Russia “depends” on the outcome of next month’s US presidential election. Asked whether he thought Moscow was ready for negotiations with Kyiv, Zelensky told journalists in comments released Tuesday: “First of all, it depends on the elections in the United States. I think they will be watching the policy of the United States.” Zelensky said based on conversations with the two candidates, he expects the United States to “demonstrate the policy very quickly, after the elections... they will not wait until January.” But Zelensky said he had held “good” meetings with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.

“I had a good meeting with Trump. It was very positive. And I’m glad about that. I had a very good meeting with Harris, not the first one,” Zelensky said.