The United Nations passed a resolution on Monday calling for peace in Ukraine, with the U.S. abstaining from the vote on a text it had drafted to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion.
The U.S. decision came after the General Assembly agreed to add language supportive of Kyiv to Washington's text. That was seen as a victory for European nations concerned about U.S. overtures to Russia by the administration of President Donald Trump in talks to end the war.
The amended resolution won 93 votes in favor, while 73 states abstained and eight voted against.
The original U.S. draft was three paragraphs—mourning the loss of life during the "Russia-Ukraine conflict", reiterating that the U.N.'s main purpose is to maintain international peace and security and peacefully settle disputes, and urging a swift end to the conflict and lasting peace.
But European amendments added references to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the need for a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in line with the founding UN Charter, and reaffirmed the UN's support for Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.
The amended resolution won 93 votes in favor, while 73 states abstained and eight voted against.
The original U.S. draft was three paragraphs—mourning the loss of life during the "Russia-Ukraine conflict", reiterating that the U.N.'s main purpose is to maintain international peace and security and peacefully settle disputes, and urging a swift end to the conflict and lasting peace.
But European amendments added references to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the need for a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in line with the founding UN Charter, and reaffirmed the UN's support for Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.
Trump’s bid to broker an end to the war sparked a rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and raised concerns among European allies that they could be cut out of peace talks.
U.S. and Russian officials met last Tuesday.
Speaking at the UN on Monday, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said there could be no return to “business as usual” with Russia.
"Some of our member states now seem to believe that ending the war at any cost and restoring business as usual with Russia will be beneficial," Sikorski told the assembly, as quoted by Poland’s state news agency, PAP.
"As a representative of a country neighboring both Russia and Ukraine, I can tell you it will not," he continued. "By normalizing relations with Moscow, you'd be entrusting your security and economic stability to an autocrat and a war criminal in an international environment much more unstable than it was a decade ago."
Sikorski called the Russian aggression on Ukraine a "modern-day colonial war," saying that it was "a manifestation of a failing empire's desperate struggle to restore its sphere of influence."
U.S. and Russian officials met last Tuesday.
Desperation of a ‘failing empire’
Speaking at the UN on Monday, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said there could be no return to “business as usual” with Russia.
"Some of our member states now seem to believe that ending the war at any cost and restoring business as usual with Russia will be beneficial," Sikorski told the assembly, as quoted by Poland’s state news agency, PAP.
"As a representative of a country neighboring both Russia and Ukraine, I can tell you it will not," he continued. "By normalizing relations with Moscow, you'd be entrusting your security and economic stability to an autocrat and a war criminal in an international environment much more unstable than it was a decade ago."
Sikorski called the Russian aggression on Ukraine a "modern-day colonial war," saying that it was "a manifestation of a failing empire's desperate struggle to restore its sphere of influence."
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