Ukraine must receive effective security guarantees, not ones like Budapest Memorandum, - Magyar
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar believes that Ukraine should be given firm security guarantees, rather than those provided for in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
He stated this during a press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw, according to Censor.NET, citing Ukrinform.
Details
"I also want to emphasize in Warsaw—although I have said this many times before—that Ukraine is a victim and has the right to defend itself by all means necessary to preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty," Magyar stressed.
The Hungarian prime minister also called for a ceasefire to be secured as soon as possible, since more than a million people have been killed on the Russian side, and many people—including civilians—have also been killed on the Ukrainian side.
"There are casualties on both sides. That is precisely why the goal must be to achieve a ceasefire, and then to establish a lasting peace. And it is the international community that will have to guarantee this—not as in the case of the Budapest Memorandum, but truly guarantee compliance with these agreements, compel others to fulfill them, and ensure Ukraine’s security and territorial integrity," he concluded.
What is the Budapest Memorandum?
The Budapest Memorandum is a political document signed in December 1994 by the leaders of Ukraine, the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom, which guaranteed Ukraine’s security in exchange for its renunciation of nuclear weapons.
According to the document, Kyiv renounced its nuclear arsenal, which at the time was the third largest in the world after those of the United States and Russia.
In contrast, the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom undertook the following commitments:
- to respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and current borders,
- refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine,
- refrain from applying economic pressure that could undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty.
In Ukraine, this document was viewed as one of the tools for ensuring security against the world’s most powerful players.
The memorandum isn't working
Following the occupation of Crimea and the outbreak of the war in Donbas in 2014, Kyiv has repeatedly stated that Russia has grossly violated the Budapest Memorandum—an international agreement intended to guarantee Ukraine’s security in exchange for its renunciation of nuclear weapons.
Ukraine emphasizes that Moscow’s aggression constitutes a direct violation of the commitments Russia made in 1994. At the same time, Kyiv has also criticized the other signatories—the United States and the United Kingdom—which, according to many Ukrainian experts, failed to provide meaningful security guarantees.
Representatives from the United States and the United Kingdom have repeatedly stated that they are fulfilling their commitments in accordance with the memorandum.
For example, Stephen Pifer, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and an expert at the Brookings Institution, explained as early as 2018:
"Ukraine has received assurances, not security guarantees. And there is a significant difference between these two concepts."
As diplomats and international experts note, the Budapest Memorandum has failed to serve as an effective mechanism for safeguarding Ukraine’s sovereignty. Following the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, its inadequacy became even more apparent—the document has remained merely a political symbol rather than a security instrument.
