The US won’t gift nukes to Kiev, but a top official refused to publicly rule out a first strike with such weapons FILE PHOTO: A B61 nuclear bomb on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, 2012 © Wikipedia
There is “no question” of the US providing nuclear weapons to Ukraine, Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried told a Senate hearing on Thursday. However, Donfried would not publicly commit to ruling out a first nuclear strike.
“The United States is not a party to this conflict,” Donfried told lawmakers during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, adding that “the United States is providing security assistance and weapons to Ukraine, but there’s no question of the US providing nuclear weapons to Ukraine.”
Donfried was not asked whether the US would be gifting its nukes to Kiev. Rather, Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, asked her to publicly state that the US does not “want to pose an existential threat” to Russia, and would not be the first party to fire nuclear weapons. (RT)
