To your specific point, I think if Ukraine had the keys to even one nuclear weapon and Russia believed they'd use it the invasion would never have happened in the first place.
Ukraine returning the nukes was a pragmatic move that, at the time, removed Russian military presence from Ukrainian territory. Think about it another way: the USA maintains nuclear weapons on other country’s territory. They sure as hell staff those sites with US troops!
Arming codes gives a nation time to recover or destroy them, but it’s not a long term solution.
More generally a handful of soldiers isn’t the full might of a countries military. Bribes, blockade until they run out of supplies, or just shoot them.
As to bombing 130 nuclear silos with non nuclear ordnance is problematic and doesn’t destroy the enriched uranium which means building a bomb from the wreckage isn’t nearly as expensive as starting from scratch. None of this came into play because the Ukraine government was still reasonably friendly at the time.
You seem to be missing the key point that I've repeated twice already.
UKRAINE DID NOT WANT RUSSIAN TROOPS IN THEIR TERRITORY.
There was no path to Ukraine maintaining the nuclear weapons while also NOT having the Russian troops on Ukrainian land. The discussion of "oh, they can re-wire the weapons" would have trigged IMMEDIATE WAR with Russia. Ukraine DID NOT WANT TO DO THIS.
I really don't understand why you're bringing up any other information because what I've written is the start and the end of the discussion.
Clearly war was one option to remove Russian troops. Saying there’s no options, is a vast oversimplification.
Call up the troupes on the phone and say we’re unhappy about those ICBM’s in our territory where going to start artillery bombardment noon tomorrow and suggest you leave before then.
Please explain how instigating a war with Russia leads to less troops on Ukrainian land.
There’s been 2 recent wars between Russia and Ukraine without any nukes involved. Nuclear bombardment of a country on your border isn’t such a great idea of a whole host of reasons.
“Leave us your nukes or we’ll take them by force.”
Talk me through the next steps.
As things stabilized inside Russia it quickly became too late, but actually shelling the location of using an EOD team to ‘destroy’ the nukes puts a different spin on things.
The USA would do nothing because why would they defend an antagonistic state trying to become a nuclear power?
If you think otherwise, you really aren’t living in the same reality as the rest of us.
How do I know this would have happened? Ukraine chose to give them back. They did the same calculation but, unlike you, they understand how things really work and what would really have happened.