U.S. Not ‘Gifting’ Nuclear Weapons to Ukraine

May 13, 2022 (EIRNS)—The U.S. is not going to “gift” nuclear weapons to Ukraine. This came out during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday at which Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried was among the witnesses. “The United States is not a party to this conflict,” Donfried said, adding that “the United States is providing security assistance and weapons to Ukraine, but there’s no question of the U.S. providing nuclear weapons to Ukraine.”

However, according to RT’s account, Donfried was not asked whether the U.S. would be “gifting” nukes to Kyiv. Rather, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) pressed her to publicly state that the U.S. does not “want to pose an existential threat” to Russia, and would not be the first party to fire nuclear weapons. Donfried did not directly answer either question, insisting instead that the U.S. is not directly participating in the Ukrainian conflict, and therefore not at war with Russia. Donfried’s exchange with Markey, regarding nuclear weapons and Ukraine, does not appear to have been covered by any Western news outlet.