Obama lauds Ukraine's shipment of uranium to Russia

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday lauded Ukraine's shipment of highly enriched uranium for secure disposal in Russia, saying the move "advances a top priority for my administration and for global security."

"This action brings us all one step closer to securing all vulnerable nuclear materials, as President Yanukovych and I and 45 other world leaders pledged to do this April at the Nuclear Security Summit," Obama said in a statement. "The low enriched uranium and nuclear safety equipment provided to Ukraine in connection with this shipment will support Ukraine's development of safe and secure nuclear energy."

"These actions represent continued Ukrainian leadership in making sure that nuclear weapons never fall into the hands of a terrorist, and working toward a world without nuclear weapons," the president added.

"Ukraine has removed from its territory a majority of its highly enriched uranium stockpile according to an agreement with the United States," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Voloshin was quoted as saying on Friday.

He said the uranium was transported to Moscow on Thursday by a special flight from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov.

In his meeting with Obama in April, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych pledged to remove all of his country's highly enriched uranium within two years, with the majority moved to Russia by the end of 2010.

Source: Xinhua