UN Rejects US Resolution Urging End to Ukraine War Without Noting Russia’s Aggression – wna24

New Delhi: On the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) rejected a US-backed resolution urging an end to the Ukraine War without mentioning Russia’s aggression.  

Instead, the assembly passed a European-backed Ukrainian resolution calling for Russia’s immediate withdrawal.

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The US had attempted to push Ukraine to withdraw its resolution in favor of an American version that omitted any reference to Russia’s invasion. 

However, Ukraine refused, and the UNGA ultimately approved Kyiv’s resolution with 93 votes in favor, 18 against, and 65 abstentions. 

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The US resolution, even after an amendment acknowledging Russia’s role, failed to garner enough support, with 93 in favor, 8 against, and 73 abstentions.  

This comes amid increasing tensions between the Trump administration and Ukrainian leadership. 

Trump had also called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator,” falsely accused Kyiv of starting the war and warned that he “better move fast” to negotiate an end to the conflict or risk not having a nation to lead. Zelenskyy responded by saying Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space.”

Since then, the Trump administration not only declined to endorse Ukraine’s U.N. resolution, but at the last minute proposed its own competing resolution and pressed its allies to support that version instead. It comes as Trump plans to host French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday in Washington.

The U.S. also wanted a vote on its proposal in the more powerful U.N. Security Council. China, which holds the council presidency this month, has scheduled it for Monday afternoon.

The General Assembly has become the most important U.N. body on Ukraine because the 15-member Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has been paralyzed by Russia’s veto power.

There are no vetoes in the assembly, and the Ukraine resolution, which is co-sponsored by all 27 members of the European Union, is almost certain to be adopted. Its votes are closely watched as a barometer of world opinion, but the resolutions passed there are not legally binding, unlike those adopted by the Security Council.

Since Russia forces stormed across the border on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Assembly has approved half a dozen resolutions that have condemned Moscow’s invasion and demanded the immediate pullout of Russian troops.

The votes on the rival resolutions — which have sparked intense lobbying and arm-twisting, one European diplomat said — will be closely watched to see if that support has waned and to assess the backing for Trump’s effort to negotiate an end to the fighting.

The very brief U.S. draft resolution acknowledges “the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict” and “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.” It never mentions Moscow’s invasion.

Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told reporters last week that the U.S. resolution was “a good move.”

The Ukraine’s resolution, meanwhile, refers to “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation” and recalls the need to implement all previous assembly resolutions “adopted in response to the aggression against Ukraine.”

It singles out the assembly’s demand that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.”

It stresses that any involvement of North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia’s forces “raises serious concerns regarding further escalation of this conflict.”

The resolution reaffirms the assembly’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and also “that no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal.”

It calls for “a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine” and it reiterates “the urgent need to end the war this year.”