Bill Clinton Says He Regrets Persuading Ukraine to Give up Nuclear Weapons

U.S. President Bill Clinton (L), Russian President Boris Yeltsin (C) and Ukrainian counterpart Leonid M. Kravchuk (R) join hands after signing a nuclear disarmament agreement in the Kremlin, Russia, on Jan. 14, 1994. Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Bill Clinton has said that he regrets persuading Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons in the 1990s.

He told Irish outlet RTE on April 4 that he bears responsibility for encouraging Ukraine to dispose of its nuclear warheads in a 1994 agreement between Kyiv, Washington, and Moscow after the end of the Cold War.