The right to use, sell, reprocess the materials in the remaining ICBMs. As the political and economic costs of denuclearisation have become clearer, arguments for the retention of nuclear weapons have increasingly been advanced. Since the Ukraine currently lacks a strong conventional army, a powerful economy or a reliable system of allies, it is internationally exposed. To compensate, it must retain its nuclear weapons. These weapons should be eliminated only as part of a multi-lateral disarmament process, and as the Ukraine is integrated into west European economic and security structures.
Nuclear weapons are cheaper to maintain than a large conventional army.
The Ukraine will have greater international influence if it retains its weapons. Although retaining a nuclear capability might initially disconcert the West, it would eventually learn to accommodate a nuclear Ukraine and would give greater weight to its arguments. The momentum in the nuclear debate in Kiev is currently away from denuclearisation.