The report indicated that this course of action could be triggered if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pulls out the military aid for Ukraine.
According to the paper, Kyiv is still in control of nine operational reactors and has "significant expertise on how to build weapons" despite giving up its nuclear arsenal in 1996. Oleksii Yizhak, head of the department at Ukraine's National Institute for Strategic Studies and author of the paper, claimed that they could extract plutonium from its spent fuel rods at nuclear power plants to create a significant arsenal of dirty warheads.
"The amount of material is sufficient for hundreds of warheads with a tactical yield of several kilotons," Yizhak said, adding that these would also suffice to destroy an entire Russian airbase or concentrated military, industrial or logistics installations.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Trump that Kyiv will pursue nuclear weapons for defense if it doesn't gain entry into NATO.
"The outcome is either Ukraine will be a nuclear power – and that will be our protection – or we should have some kind of alliance. Other than NATO, today we don't know of any effective alliances," Zelensky said in Ukrainian while speaking to the European Council in Brussels. "I believe that he heard me," the Ukrainian leader said of Trump.
Zelensky later clarified he had meant there was no alternative security guarantee and Kyiv has since denied they are considering building a nuclear bomb.
Meanwhile, Trump has famously pledged to end the Russia-Ukraine war within a day of becoming president. He met with Zelensky before the U.S. presidential elections and vouched for his "very good relationship" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He has also said the invasion would never have happened if he had been in the White House and has criticized outgoing President Joe Biden's level of support for Ukraine.
Last week it emerged that Trump could propose an 800-mile demilitarized zone between Russia and Ukraine as part of a plan to end the war early. The plans, which were outlined by three Trump staffers, would involve the zone being policed by British and European troops.
Under the plans, the U.S. would also arm Ukraine to deter Russia from restarting the war. However, responsibility for manning and financing the buffer zone would fall solely on Ukraine's European allies.
"We are not sending American men and women to uphold peace in Ukraine. And we are not paying for it. Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it," Trump reportedly said.
Kyiv denies reports that it would be building nukes if Trump cuts off aid
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Nov. 13 denied media reports claiming that Kyiv would be developing weapons of mass destruction should the U.S. stop sending military aid to the nation.
"Ukraine is committed to the NPT (the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons); we do not possess, develop, or intend to acquire nuclear weapons," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said via X, formerly Twitter. (Related: Ukraine denies reports from think tank that it is months away from developing a NUCLEAR WEAPON.)
He said that Ukraine works closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and that it is fully transparent in its monitoring, which rules out the use of nuclear materials for military purposes.
Amid these uncertainties, the United States recently announced a $425 million military aid package to Ukraine. The package would include armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons.
A separate analysis wickedly suggested that Trump just hand Ukraine nuclear weapons to thwart Putin's Russia once and for all.
Nicholas Drummond, a security and defense expert, told the Daily Express: "In the next four years Russia will rearm, but also Ukraine will recover and rearm and prepare. That preparation could be the U.S. giving Ukraine nuclear weapons."
"A deal could be done very quietly, and suddenly Ukraine becomes very powerful. Zelensky can say 'We have nuclear weapons and if you attack us we will bomb Moscow,'” he said. "Can you imagine what that would do to Putin? This is one reason why Putin may be weary of a peace deal that is not exactly on his terms.”
He argued that yes, this is possible, and still not allow Ukraine to join NATO.
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