"Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, which will serve as protection, or it must be part of some kind of alliance. Apart from NATO, we do not know of such an effective alliance," Zelensky said that he had told Trump. "I believe Trump heard me and said that it was a fair argument," he added. Zelensky also invoked the Budapest Memorandum, in which Ukraine agreed in 1994 to give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the U.S., and the U.K.The agreement resulted in Ukraine losing its nuclear shield, Zelensky argued, while other powers that have maintained their nuclear arsenal have not suffered from a full-scale war.At the same time, Zelensky emphasized that he would choose NATO membership over pursuing nuclear weapons.