Budapest Memorandum guarantors ignore Ukraine’s calls to close the sky – Vereshchuk

The sky over Ukraine needs to be closed, at least in view of our nuclear power plants, but fears of Russia outweigh the determination of the West, in particular of the guarantors of the Budapest Memorandum.

Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk said during a nationwide telethon,

"We now have a real danger in the protection of critical infrastructure, which includes, for example, our nuclear power plants. This is not a question of Ukraine, right? And we see how the Russian Federation irresponsibly shelling such critical infrastructure, and even more so by announcing such shelling, saying that it will continue to destroy infrastructure, is doing so completely irresponsibly. And Europe and the whole world is silently watching it, in my opinion," Vereshchuk said.

"But for some reason, the fear that Russia may threaten to start land or other operations prevails. And now we have a question to the signatories of the Budapest Memorandum – the United States and Great Britain – are these really the superpowers that promised to ensure security in this way? " the deputy prime minister asks.

Vereshchuk added that, having lost its nuclear potential, Ukraine should have known that it had partners behind who would not allow any of the countries to attack a country that had voluntarily contributed to a nuclear-free world.

"This is an issue that needs to be discussed and raised, as our President says and does," she said.

As reported, a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia NPP on Friday night as a result of shelling by Russian army heavy equipment. Power Unit 1 was hit. In this regard, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was convened in New York.

On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops are shelling and destroying key infrastructure, conducting massive shelling of Ukrainian towns and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launcher systems, and ballistic missiles.

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