FILE – In this Wednesday, Dec. 24, 1997 file photo, soldiers prepare to destroy a ballistic SS-19 missile in the yard of the largest former Soviet military rocket base in Vakulenchuk, Ukraine, 220 kilometers (137 miles) west of Kiev. The U.S. helped Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations secure former Soviet nuclear weapons and dismantle some of them under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program initiated by Sens. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar. (AP Photo, File)