Within hours of a public showdown at the White House between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in February, a Ukrainian banker started a fundraising campaign to buy nuclear weapons. Despite the privations inflicted by the war, Ukrainians donated as much as they could and gathered more than half a million dollars before he declared it was meant in jest and redirected the fund toward the purchase of drones.

Washington has more than a hundred B61 gravity bombs deployed across the continent in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. The total U.S. inventory is above 5,000, roughly matching Russia’s arsenal. In comparison, France and Britain, Europe’s only nuclear-armed states, possess a little more than 500 nuclear warheads combined.

Moreover, there are doctrinal challenges. The French nuclear doctrine limits the use of nukes to only if France came under attack. In comparison, Britain has declared that its deterrent extends to European allies, but the British nuclear deterrent itself is dependent on the United States for Trident missiles aboard four Vanguard-class submarines, since the missiles are leased from Lockheed Martin.