You want to calculate what Ukraine “costs”?
Fine. Let’s calculate what the guarantors of the Budapest Memorandum owe Ukraine.
People who complain about “how much the West spends on Ukraine” forget one thing:
Ukraine has already paid the highest possible price for promises that were never fulfilled.
1. What Ukraine gave up under the Budapest Memorandum
Ukraine surrendered the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal:
•1,900 strategic nuclear warheads
•176 ICBMs
•44 Tu-160 / Tu-95MS strategic bombers
•Full launch, storage, and command infrastructure
Current value: $2–4 trillion.
Yes — trillion.
Ukraine traded this arsenal for security guarantees from the US, UK, and Russia.
Guarantees that cracked in 2014 and completely collapsed in 2022.
2. How much the US has spent on Ukraine
In 11 years of war, the total US support amounts to:
$80–90 billion.
For comparison:
Ukraine gave up a nuclear deterrent worth 30–50 times more.
3. How US support has been restricted
For years, Ukraine was denied critical tools needed for survival:
•ATACMS long-range missiles
•F-16 fighter jets
•Adequate Patriot air-defense systems
•Permission to strike inside Russia (only partially allowed in 2024–25)
These delays cost thousands of Ukrainian lives and entire cities that could have been saved.
4. The real cost of war for Ukraine
In 11 years:
•450,000+ killed and wounded
•Over 50% of energy infrastructure destroyed
•Trillion-dollar economic losses
•Factories, investments, and human capital wiped out
•A development trajectory comparable to Poland’s — shattered not only by Russian missiles but also by Western hesitation
5. So who really owes whom?
Ukraine never asked for charity.
Ukraine asked its guarantors to honor their own signatures.
While the US and UK insisted the Budapest Memorandum “was not binding,” Russia prepared for a full-scale invasion.
Today, Ukraine is defending:
•NATO’s entire eastern flank
•Europe’s energy routes
•The Black Sea
•The global security system the United States built after WWII
Ukraine is presenting the real bill: for cities erased, for millions of lives broken, for decades of development stolen — and for the security guarantees that existed only on paper.
And that bill is not for Ukraine to pay. It is for those who promised protection — and failed to deliver it.
Author: Yuliya Azizova
You want to calculate what Ukraine “costs”?
— Roman Sheremeta (@rshereme) December 10, 2025
Fine. Let’s calculate what the guarantors of the Budapest Memorandum owe Ukraine.
People who complain about “how much the West spends on Ukraine” forget one thing:
Ukraine has already paid the highest possible price for promises that… pic.twitter.com/WdUeQlXDdc
