NEW YORK CITY: The UN General Assembly on Monday passed a resolution, backed by the EU and Ukraine, condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, demanding the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, and calling for a quick end to hostilities and a peaceful resolution to the war.
The resolution passed with 93 votes in favor. The US and Russia were two of 18 UN members who voted against it, and 65 countries, including China and Gulf Cooperation Council member states, abstained. All other Arab countries also abstained, with the exception of Lebanon, which voted in favor.
The resolution reaffirms the assembly’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and to the principle “that no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal.”
It calls for “a deescalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine” and reiterated “the urgent need to end the war this year.”
Over the weekend, the US had urged countries to vote against the Ukrainian resolution. On Friday, Washington proposed its own, last-minute, very brief rival resolution that acknowledged “the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” implored “a swift end to the conflict” and further urged efforts to achieve “a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.” It stopped short of mentioning Russian aggression.
The US resolution was only passed by the General Assembly after an amendment, proposed by France, that made it clear Russia had invaded its smaller neighbor in violation of the UN Charter.
The vote on the amended US resolution passed with 93 votes in favor and eight against. There were 73 abstentions, including the US, which abstained from the final vote on its own resolution.
US envoy Dorothy Shea said several previous UN resolutions condemning Russia and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops “have failed to stop the war,” which “has now dragged on for far too long and at far too terrible a cost to the people in Ukraine and Russia and beyond.”
She added: “What we need is a resolution marking the commitment from all UN member states to bring a durable end to the war.”
Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, Mariana Betsa, called for “all nations to stand firm and to take (the) side of the (UN) Charter, the side of humanity and the side of just and lasting peace, peace through strength.”
She added: “This war has never been about Ukraine only; it is about the fundamental right of any country to exist, to choose its own path and to live free from aggression.”
Speaking on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council after the vote, Kuwait’s permanent representative to the UN, Tarek Al-Banai, told the assembly that GCC members abstained in order to give priority to dialogue, and expressed the council’s commitment to resolving the conflict in Ukraine as quickly as possible.
Al-Banai said that for the past three years, GCC member countries have assumed the role of mediators, which helped facilitate the release of hostages through negotiations. He also expressed hope that the talks between Russia and the US in Riyadh last week will prove to be the first step toward resolving the conflict.
He vowed that the GCC will continue its efforts to pursue “serious solutions that will make it possible to stop the bloodshed and put an end, once and for all, to the conflict.”
