A World Unarmed, A World at Risk: Ukraine’s Fate and the Need for Biosecurity

Imagine a world where a nation willingly gives up its most powerful weapons, trusting that international agreements will safeguard its sovereignty. Now, imagine that same nation being invaded, its cities bombarded, its people displaced. This is not a hypothetical scenario—it is Ukraine’s reality.

In 1994, Ukraine surrendered its nuclear arsenal, the third-largest in the world at the time, in exchange for security assurances under the Budapest Memorandum. Decades later, Russia, one of the very nations that signed the agreement, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This betrayal serves as a stark warning about the risks of disarmament without ironclad guarantees, and it also raises an even larger question: If the world cannot uphold agreements on nuclear weapons, how can we trust that biological weapons—capable of even deadlier, indiscriminate destruction—will be contained?

The Fall of the Soviet Union and Its Consequences

To understand how Ukraine was placed in this precarious position, we must examine the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the role of Mikhail Gorbachev. As the last leader of the USSR, Gorbachev implemented sweeping reforms under glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in the late 1980s. These policies aimed to modernize the Soviet economy and increase transparency, but they inadvertently weakened the government's grip on its vast empire.

Amid growing nationalist movements and economic turmoil, the Soviet republics began to seek independence. By 1991, the Soviet Union officially collapsed, leading to the emergence of independent states, including Ukraine. This historic shift also meant the division of Soviet military assets, leaving Ukraine in possession of thousands of nuclear warheads.

However, international pressure, particularly from the United States and Russia, pushed Ukraine to surrender its nuclear arsenal in 1994 through the Budapest Memorandum. In exchange, Ukraine received assurances of territorial integrity and sovereignty—promises that, as history has shown, were ultimately broken by Russia.

The Disarmament That Led to War

Ukraine’s story is a cautionary tale of disarmament gone wrong. Had Ukraine retained its nuclear deterrent, would Russia have dared to invade? The world will never know. However, what is clear is that disarmament without enforcement is dangerous. And while the conversation around nuclear weapons continues, an even more sinister and often-overlooked threat lurks in the shadows—bioweapons.

The Hidden Peril of Biological Weapons

Unlike nuclear weapons, which require massive infrastructure and are highly detectable, biological weapons can be developed in secrecy, deployed without warning, and cause destruction on an unimaginable scale. Their effects do not just impact one battlefield or one country—they can trigger global pandemics, economic collapses, and social disorder.

History has already shown us how devastating bioweapons can be such as the the Siege of Caffa, where Mongol forces allegedly hurled plague-infected corpses into the city, leading to an outbreak that eventually devastated Europe and the 2001 anthrax attacks where bioterrorists sent anthrax-laced letters to U.S. government offices, killing five people and exposing the nation’s vulnerability to biological threats.

The terrifying aspect of bioweapons is their ability to spread uncontrollably. A lab-engineered virus or bacteria could mutate, evolve, and spark a pandemic deadlier than anything humanity has faced before. And in a world still reeling from COVID-19, we cannot afford to take this risk lightly.

Global Biosecurity: A Responsibility for All

The fight against biological weapons must be proactive, not reactive. The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) is a crucial framework, but it lacks enforceability and strong oversight. Countries must come together to strengthen global biosecurity, implementing:

• Stronger International Inspections: Just as nuclear facilities are subject to rigorous inspections, so too should biological research labs.

• Transparency and Accountability: Governments must be held accountable for their research programs and ensure that no state or group develops biological weapons in secret.

• Early Detection Systems: Rapid response mechanisms must be in place to detect and contain outbreaks before they spiral into global catastrophes.

Engaging the Next Generation in Disarmament

The future of global security depends on the involvement of young people. Youth activism has played a critical role in movements against climate change and human rights abuses—now, it must turn its focus to disarmament and biosecurity.

• Education Programs: Schools and universities must integrate courses on bioethics, bioweapons prevention, and global security.

• Youth Advocacy Networks: Young leaders must push for stronger disarmament policies, leveraging social media and activism to spread awareness.

• Innovative Solutions: The next generation of scientists and policymakers must develop cutting-edge strategies to detect and neutralize biological threats before they emerge.

A Call to Action

Ukraine’s disarmament should have led to lasting peace; instead, it became a painful lesson in the consequences of misplaced trust. Similarly, while nations claim to oppose biological weapons, the lack of strong global enforcement puts humanity at great risk. We must act before another betrayal, another pandemic, or another catastrophe occurs.

Stronger treaties, better enforcement, and an engaged global community—especially the youth—are essential to ensuring that bioweapons never become the next great scourge of humanity. The world failed Ukraine. It must not fail itself.

It is time to secure the future—not with weapons, but with vigilance, cooperation, and unwavering commitment to a safer world.