THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FUNDAMENTALS OF THE STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE NUCLEAR FACTOR ON THE UKRAINE FOREIGN POLICY

The article is devoted to the study of the influence of the nuclear factor on the priority directions, the process of formation and ways of realization of the foreign policy course of Ukraine. The authors investigated the theoretical and methodological principles of the influence of the nuclear factor on the foreign policy of Ukraine. Comparison of various scientific approaches and sources of information allows to generalize and systematize the views of scientists on the problem being studied. The foreign policy of Ukraine in foreign and domestic historical and political thought of the studied period was analyzed. The concepts and approaches to the study of the nuclear factor were singled out. The preconditions of the decision on Ukraine's nuclear disarmament were highlighted. The authors identified the impact of the nuclear factor on Ukraine's foreign policy and emphasized the importance of further research on the topic, given the current problems of implementation and realization of foreign policy of Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the Cold War, the issue of nuclear weapons has become important in the theory and practice of international relations. Acute and urgent questions arose after the first use of this fatal weapon on August 6, 1945 by the US attack on Japan. The issue of nuclear non-proliferation has become more and more relevant every year. One country after another acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but some of them refused to sign.
The issue of the threat of nuclear proliferation has been going on for many years. This issue also affected Ukraine, as it became the successor to the Soviet Union and inherited the world's third largest nuclear arsenal. This event has been discussed by the whole world, especially by the United States, Russia and Britain. It was these advanced states that became fateful in the life of the young state [3].

СЕКЦІЯ XXIII. ФІЛОСОФІЯ ТА ПОЛІТОЛОГІЯ
Research into nuclear non-proliferation issue began in the United States during World War II after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the Soviet Union, the issue became relevant later and domestic scientists (O. Oleksandrov, A. Muradian and others) joined the study of this topic. Today, the issue of nuclear weapons is more actual than ever. It was Russia, as the guarantor country, that carried out the armed aggression on the territory of Ukraine and violated all the agreements mentioned in the Budapest Memorandum [4].
Since the creation of nuclear weapon, this subject of intimidation has frightened humanity. Some political scientists assign it the role of mediator in conflicts, others argue that it is the power and strength of the state, that without it it is impossible to build an empire. But most believe that nuclear weapons are a powerful threat of the 21st century and are created to take the lead in the arms race. But whether such a victory is worth destroying the most valuable thing on earth.
Until this weapon exists in human hands -human is in danger, nature and all living things are under the threat. The blast wave destroys everything in its path, and radiation poisons all living things. Nuclear war is a war in which there are no winners. But people have no boundaries, the world is creeping close to World War III, the world is in pursuit of weapons, and military developments surpass each other.
Globalization has also affected the technological spheres of society, the expansion of power structures and the latest developments that have played a role in the so-called «arms race». Prevention of global conflicts, security of the population, such arguments were given in response to the creation of weapons, which launched an «arms race» between the United States and the Soviet Union [2].
Today there are 9 countries in the world that possess nuclear weapons -the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea. These states are the so-called «nuclear club». The United States and Russia account for 93% of the nuclear arsenal. Ukraine also once had nuclear weapons, which it inherited from a former mentor, the USSR.
It is the nuclear factor that plays a leading role in foreign policy of each country. It is a key link in the power and strength of the state. Experts and political scientists believe that a state that has these powerful weapons can forget about conflicts with its neighbors and any aggression against it. But it is necessary to understand that weapons will never be a panacea for war, especially a weapon that can destroy everything in its path. A special role in the military doctrines of many countries is assigned to nuclear weapons as weapons of mass destruction. This weapon is especially important because it is used for destruction and devastation. This weapon is fatal and one of the most destructive means of warfare. The most dangerous global problems include the threat of the use of nuclear weapons, the beginning of a nuclear war, which can have catastrophic consequences for all mankind. An important factor in deterring the use of nuclear weapons is the military-political component of the mass consciousness of mankind, which reflects the views on the causes, differences, consequences of wars, global nuclear threats, possible methods of removing humanity from military and nuclear confrontation.
The active proliferation of nuclear weapons, the threat of their falling into the hands of terrorist organizations, the increasing tendency of global nuclear threats actualize the need for a detailed study of the mass consciousness of mankind, its SECTION XXIII. PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE features, peculiarities of formation and development.
In 1940, nuclear weapons were created, which became a determining factor in international relations. In the United States, in Los Alamos, in 1942, an American nuclear center was established. Work on creating an atomic bomb began on its basis. The overall management of the project was entrusted to the talented nuclear physicist R. Oppenheimer. Under his leadership, the best minds of the time were gathered not only from the United States and England, but in virtually from all of Western Europe. A huge team, including 12 Nobel Prize winners, worked on the creation of nuclear weapons. There was no shortage of funds [5].
Simultaneously with the invention of nuclear weapons, a new type of international policy was formed -nuclear, which surrounds the activities of political actors in the field of peaceful or possible military use of nuclear energy.
There are a number of bilateral and multilateral treaties and agreements aimed at reducing or eliminating certain types of nuclear weapons, preventing the proliferation of such weapons and their means of delivery, Ukraine has also signed these agreements and is a non-nuclear country and became famous for it in the first years of independence. These agreements are represented by a whole range of instruments. Nuclear weapons are very different from conventional weapons because of the huge amount of explosive and thermal energy they can produce. Also, the destructive effects of the explosion do not stop after the initial explosion. The cloud of nuclear radiation moves from the epicenter of the explosion, causing a wide impact on both flora and fauna even after the pressure and heat waves have passed. Radiation can cause genetic mutations, radiation poisoning and death [6].
The concept of Ukraine's nuclear-free status was formed taking into account the positions of both Russia and the United States, but not under their direct decree. It did not arise by chance and unexpectedly on July 12, 1990, but was formed over a long period. In the late 80's of last century, the two nuclear superpowers sought: 1) to get rid of the excessive and economically burdensome stockpiles of nuclear weapons that have accumulated in their arsenals; 2) to encourage as many non-nuclear States as possible to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in order to strengthen the nonproliferation regime and maintain their monopoly on possessing of nuclear weapons [1].
The issue of the nuclear-free status of individual Soviet republics was not on the international agenda at the time. It began to gain practical importance in the early 1990s as the tendency to liquidate the Soviet Union intensified [5].
Thus Ukraine's path to unilateral loss of nuclear state status, a stage that was not even substantially backed by a set of strategic security measures, treaties, alliances, construction of freezing, and a tactical resumption of the nuclear program in the case of a change in the geopolitical and military situation around Ukraine, which would threaten its national security and state independence, etc., began [5].
Conclusions. Nuclear disarmament is a topical issue today, as evidenced by a number of works by domestic and foreign scientists. The issue of nuclear weapons became relevant during the Cold War. Nowadays, this topic has not lost its importance in the works and writings of scientists. The study of nuclear nonproliferation dates back to World War II, after the bombing of Hiroshima and СЕКЦІЯ XXIII. ФІЛОСОФІЯ ТА ПОЛІТОЛОГІЯ Nagasaki. The lack of attention was more manifested in Ukraine. Numerous works, comments of famous politicians, recollections of figures -participants of nuclear disarmament of Ukraine can not mask the fact that the complex and full vision of a nuclear safety problem in the modern world is absent, and political problems of international safety in the field of nuclear non-proliferation have not been the subject of specialized scientific research to date.
In the historical and political thought of foreign scholars there is the idea that Ukraine is at the clash of civilizations. The complexity of its geopolitical position is that Ukraine stands between two «worlds» -East and West. It is because of its geopolitical location that Ukraine is a kind of «shield» between the two «worlds». Z. Brzezinski believed that Ukraine's independence challenged Russia. Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union after the collapse of a huge nuclear heritage, which was the third largest in the world after the United States and Russia. After Ukraine's declaration of independence, the issue of nuclear disarmament was on the agenda not only in Ukraine but also in other advanced countries of the world, this issue was of most concern to the United States, Russia, and Britain, which became Ukraine's «guarantors of security» after its abandonment of its nuclear arsenal. The issue of nuclear disarmament lasted for 5 years, many meetings were held, agreements were signed, and other actions which preceded further disarmament were taken.