Kyiv Has Capabilities Of Developing Nuclear Arsenal: Ex PM
Kyiv, March 5: Ukrainian Former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has told Sputnik that Kyiv has technical capabilities for nuclear developments, the objective is solvable but yet irrelevant at the moment.
“Even now, Ukraine with all the destruction and disintegration is a high-tech state, which has all the necessary specialists and equipment”, Azarov said while addressing the question whether Ukraine is currently conducting nuclear developments.
“You probably do not know, but Kyiv has its own small nuclear reactor, designed for research work. Moreover, Ukraine has nuclear power units. Ukraine has uranium deposits. And so with such a need and with such a formulation of the problem – I emphasise that Ukraine is not Iran, not even North Korea – this problem is technically solvable,” Azarov said.
The official added that “there is a technical possibility” of this sort of developments in the country despite the fact that “currently Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe” and “this objective is not vital for Ukraine at the moment.”
Azarov noted that “there are a lot of issues on this pathway. And reasonable leadership would never do that.” The former prime minister said Ukraine could have developed nuclear weapons in 2-3 years, but suggested not to guess.
