I agree that the Bucharest Memorandum was meant to "relieve" Ukraine of many of the most powerful wqeapons in its arsenal. I maintain that this was done for the reason that I described, namely a fear of them ending up in the wrong hands.

"US Secretary of State James Baker took a firm view

that only Russia should succeed the Soviet Union

as a nuclear state, lest the unraveled Soviet Union

should become a “Yugoslavia with nukes.”

In return, Ukraine - which was suffering economically - got a shit tonne of money from both Russia and the United States. Under the Nunn-Lugar Act alone, the US sent $400 million a year to Ukraine, but we all know that was "just the beginning". The Americans only increased their investment and economic suasion in Ukraine after that, and of course it all skyrocketed after the 2014 coup.