KYIV. June 20 (Interfax) - Ukraine needs to create strategic deterrence weapons, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said.
"We face a very serious challenge. Now that Ukraine is not yet a member of NATO, and it will not become one in the near future, we have to rely on ourselves. What can stop an aggressive nuclear country from a large-scale invasion? Only modern, powerful weapons of deterrence. Whether or not our partners like it, we must work on a strategic-level weapon that can effectively hit the enemy at any distance," Turchynov told Interfax.
"We do not have the pacifism that we had at the end of the past century, and we probably won't have it anymore. The Budapest Memorandum, which gave us security guarantees in exchange for nuclear disarmament, is not worth the paper it was written on," Turchynov said.
No one has "either the moral or the legal right" to prevent Ukraine from implementing such an initiative, he said.
Turchynov accused Russia of trying to destabilize Ukraine. "One of the main goals of Russia is the internal destabilization of our country. They realize now that they can't secure their military offensive with impunity, without tough resistance. Therefore, their main priority is to try to explode the situation in Ukraine from the inside. To cause panic, chaos, to break Ukrainians' readiness to resist. To do that, they are using a broad arsenal of means, form infowar to run-of-the-mill terror," Turchynov said.
The killings of former State Duma Deputy Denis Voronenkov and Amina Okuyeva and the attempted killing of journalist Arkady Babchenko "are all links in the same chain," he said.
Turchynov also said the reinforcement of air defense systems is a priority area in the expansion of Ukraine's military-technical cooperation with its strategic partners.
"As for the further expansion of military-technical cooperation, our priority is the reinforcement of air defense, which was destroyed the most under Yanukovych and his predecessors. Modern air defense systems are needed for the country's protection," Turchynov said.
The issue of air defense reinforcement is very important, as Russia may use military aviation if the military conflict gets worse, he said.
"A large-scale conflict would be different from the situation in eastern Ukraine in the use of the Russian Aerospace Forces, including assault aviation and cruise missiles. The issue of air defense, the protection of the country's strategic facilities from this threat, is very important to us. We are studying in detail the large-scale use by Russia of its Aerospace Forces in Syria, their strengths and weaknesses, and we understand what a serious problem that could be," Turchynov said.