Ukraine Destroyed Its Last Ss-24 Silo

Ukrain destroyed its last silo for the SS-24 inter-continental ballistic missiles on Monday. According to the press service of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, the 46th and last silo of the aforementioned type was destroyed by means of an explosion in the nearby Pervomaisk, the Nikolayev region (to West of the Black Sea coast line.) The 43rd Army of the Soviet Strategic Missile Force was stationed here before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ukraine started destroying its nuclear potential after proclaming its non-nuclear status and signing the START Treaty in 1991. Scrapping of the SS-24 missiles, as well as the destruction of missile silos is funded by the United States. Before proclaiming independence, Ukraine ranked third in the world in terms of its nuclear potential. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Ukraine had 130 SS-19 and 46 SS-24 strategic missiles. All of them were subsequently transported to Russia. In exchange, Ukraine got nuclear fuel for its power plants.