U.S. Made Commitment to Ukraine Decades Ago, Lets Honor It

When the USSR peacefully dissolved itself 32 years ago, Ukraine regained its independence. In that process Ukraine gave up possession of the former USSR's nuclear weapons within its territory:

“Ukraine had 1,900 Soviet strategic nuclear warheads and between 2,650 and 4,200 Soviet tactical nuclear weapons deployed on its territory at the time of independence in 1991. 176 Soviet ICBMs Soviet were located in Ukraine (130 SS-19 ICBMs and 46 SS-24 ICBMs), and 44 strategic bombers."

Thereafter, and on the basis of relinquishing these weapons, the U.S., the U.K., and — wait for it — the Russian Federation signed a memorandum solemnly promising to respect and protect Ukraine.

Conservatives, unlike many progressives, believe in America First. And in American honor. Both America’s interests and our national honor derives from honoring our treaties and keeping our word.

America, very much including the too-few true conservatives in Congress, simply must — as a matter of honor, prestige, American national security and interests — and unlike the perfidious Putin’s Russian Federation) — honor our promises, especially to Ukraine.

Advocating repudiation of America’s promises is dishonorable. Advocacy of repudiation is a shameful, shameless, and deeply anti-conservative act.

House Speaker Mike Johnson behaved courageously and honorably by authorizing military aid to Ukraine in accord with America’s firm promise. True conservatives will follow his shining example.

Speaker Johnson has proven himself a true spiritual justice warrior. So must all true conservatives. Let’s keep our word.

The text of the Budapest Memorandum providing Ukraine with security guarantees, signed by Presidents Clinton, Yeltsin and Kravchuk on December 5, 1994, states, promises to respect Ukraine’s security and sovereignty. It states, unambiguously:

The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
Welcoming the accession of Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as non-nuclear-weapon State,
Taking into account the commitment of Ukraine to eliminate all nuclear weapons from its territory within a specified period of time,
Noting the changes in the world-wide security situation, including the end of the Cold War, which have brought about conditions for deep reductions in nuclear forces.
Confirm the following:
1. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.
2. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defence or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
3. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind.
4. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.
5. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm, in the case of Ukraine, their commitment not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, except in the case of an attack on themselves, their territories or dependent territories, their armed forces, or their allies, by such a State in association or alliance with a nuclear-weapon State.
6. Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America will consult in the event a situation arises that raises a question concerning these commitments.
— Memorandum on Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine’s Accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Let America honor its solemn commitment to Ukraine’s security and sovereignty now and in the future, world without end. This is a matter of honor, American prestige, and American national security, and America’s interests.

These are values which all true conservatives, in and out of Congress, must courageously uphold.