**US Assures Putin: No Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine**
Outgoing US President Joe Biden said the United States would not deploy nuclear weapons in Ukraine. He made this statement on January 17 during an interview with MSNBC.
Biden discussed his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the Russian leader emphasized that Russia did not want nuclear weapons to be present in Ukraine and also urged the US to block Ukraine’s membership in NATO.
Biden replied to Putin, saying that there were no nuclear weapons in Ukraine and that they would not be deployed. He also criticized Putin for his ambitions, stating that “All he wants to do is re-establish the Warsaw Pact.”
The tension between Russia and Ukraine over security has been ongoing since the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. This agreement saw Ukraine give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for guarantees from the US, UK, and Russia not to use force or economic coercion against Ukraine.
Despite these commitments, Russia launched a war on Ukraine and repeatedly threatened to use nuclear arms against the country and its allies.