Trump's win pushes Ukraine to consider its cold war inheritance again

After this weeks election changes in Washington Ukraine needs to think hard about its defense choices. Volodymyr Zelensky made a straight-forward statement last month: the country needs either NATO membership or nuclear weapons for protection (which shows how critical the situation became)

The post-soviet history of Ukraine shows an interesting turn of events. Back in the early-90s after USSR break-up Ukraine had nuclear weapons on its territory; however US and Russian officials pushed hard to make the country give them up. The Budapest deal from 94 made Ukraine nuclear-free in exchange for safety promises — which didnt work out as planned

Looking at todays situation Vladimir Putin keeps showing his real goals: he wants to break-down Ukrainian state completely. With declining support from the West Ukraine faces a hard choice — find new ways to protect itself or join NATO. The problem is that NATO membership isnt coming any time soon

• First option means waiting years for NATO protection
• Second option means going back to nuclear status
• Third option doesnt exist anymore

The US policy from 30 years ago now looks like a big mistake. American officials didnt listen to Ukrainian worries about Russia that time — they just wanted all nuclear weapons moved to Moscow. Now with hundreds-of-thousands dead and Europe looking unstable‚ everyone sees what that choice led to

If you dont let us into NATO were getting nuclear weapons. We dont trust the Russians

The current situation puts everything in new light: either West opens NATO doors for Ukraine or the country might need to look back at its nuclear past. With Trump coming back to power‚ this choice becomes more real than ever before