By Igor Desyatnikov

When Ukraine surrendered its nuclear arsenal in 1994 — then the third largest in the world — it did so in exchange for solemn guarantees from the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia. The Budapest Memorandum pledged that these powers would respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, refrain from military threats, and critically, would not use economic coercion to subjugate Ukraine to their own interests.

Now, more than thirty years later, the Trump administration has undermined that agreement and violated its explicit terms. The breach is not metaphorical or symbolic. It is real, deliberate, and legally consequential.

Article 3 of the Budapest Memorandum is unequivocal: the signatories committed to “refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty.” This clause ensured that Ukraine’s political and economic independence would be respected by great powers, particularly those with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Yet, the Trump administration has done precisely what that article forbids. By leveraging US security support and diplomatic access to pressure Ukraine into granting exclusive access to its........

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