UN Security Council adopts US resolution on Ukraine without mention of Russian aggression
Illustrative photo: UN Security Council adopts US resolution on Ukraine (Getty Images)
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on “peace in Ukraine” proposed by the United States with 10 votes in favor. Russia and China supported it, no one spoke against it, and five European countries (the UK, France, Greece, Slovenia, and Denmark) abstained.
RBC-Ukraine explains what the US resolution is about and what kind of struggle has unfolded at the UN today around decisions on Ukraine.
At an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council, which was convened at the request of the Americans, the United States presented its path to peace resolution. It consists of only a few lines and calls for ending the conflict and establishing sustainable peace between Ukraine and Russia.
However, this document does not condemn or even mention the fact of Russian aggression against Ukraine, nor does it call for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the occupied territory and the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity.
The current UN Security Council resolution is the first resolution adopted since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia vetoed previous resolutions condemning the aggression.
France and the United Kingdom, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, had the right to veto today's resolution, but they did not use it.
The United States has already submitted a similar draft resolution to the UN General Assembly. Then, by a majority vote, significant amendments were made to it, in particular, the word conflict was replaced by a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. After that, the document was approved by the General Assembly as a whole, with the United States abstaining and Russia voting against it.
Interestingly, the General Assembly had previously overwhelmingly supported another resolution sponsored by Ukraine and several dozen other countries, which called for the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, and called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory and cease its military actions against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian document is generally in the spirit of another resolution on Ukraine, which the General Assembly adopted two years ago, on February 23, 2023, on the first anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion. At that time, 141 UN member states voted in favor of the resolution, with only seven (Russia and its satellites) opposed.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, violating its sovereignty and international law. At 5 a.m. Kyiv time, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the so-called special military operation, after which Russian troops crossed the border of Ukraine from several directions - from the east, north (from Belarus), and south (from occupied Crimea). At the same time, Russia launched massive missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, and Lviv.
Russian troops tried to quickly capture the capital by landing in Hostomel, but Ukrainian defenders repelled the attack. In the south, Russia occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and surrounded Mariupol, where fierce fighting continued.
In response, Ukraine declared martial law and mobilization, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on citizens to resist the aggressor. Despite a significant advantage in equipment and numbers, Russian troops suffered serious losses and failed to achieve key strategic objectives.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine had global consequences, including the imposition of tough international sanctions against Russia.
A successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the second half of 2022 liberated a large part of the occupied territories, including Kharkiv and Kherson.
