Zelenskyy to Trump: Ukraine will have either nuclear weapons or NATO membership

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed that he discussed the need for Ukraine to be accepted into NATO with US presidential candidate Donald Trump, mentioning Kyiv's renunciation of nuclear weapons.

The president described the Budapest Memorandum as an ineffective agreement that failed to safeguard Ukraine after it had given up its nuclear arsenal.

"Among all these great powers, all the nuclear nations, which one has suffered? Was it all of them? No, only Ukraine. Who gave up nuclear weapons? Was it all of them? Only Ukraine. Who is at war today? Ukraine.

In a conversation with Donald Trump, I told him: 'We've found ourselves in this situation, so what's the way out? Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, and then it will be our defence, or we need to have some kind of alliance. Apart from NATO, we don't know any effective alliances today'," Zelenskyy stressed

He added that NATO countries are not at war today, which is why Ukraine chooses NATO over nuclear weapons.

"I believe that Donald Trump heard me. He said: 'Your reasoning is fair'," Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president stressed that if Ukraine's partners do not support the Victory Plan, it will benefit Russia and constitute an enormous mistake.

Zelenskyy revealed that 18 leaders commented on Ukraine's Victory Plan at the EU summit, with the majority expressing their support for it.