A U.S. effort to sink a draft U.N. resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine failed Monday after European countries and Kyiv marshaled support for strong language against Moscow.
The United Nations General Assembly passed the resolution with 93 countries voting in favor. The U.S. and Russia both voted against it.
Monday’s resolution — which was introduced by Ukraine, the United Kingdom and most members of the European Union — holds Russia directly responsible for the three-year-old conflict. The Trump administration had lobbied allies to vote against it, arguing that condemnations of the invasion wouldn’t be productive in securing peace between the two countries. It convinced a handful of countries to withdraw their sponsorship, including Hungary and Costa Rica, but the efforts did not change the final outcome of the vote.
Kyiv and its allies also managed to sabotage a separate U.S.-led resolution that advocated for peace but made no reference to Russia’s role in launching a full-scale military campaign against Ukraine. The General Assembly passed amendments to that document to include condemnations of Russia which narrowly passed. As a result, the U.S. abstained from voting on its own resolution.
While the measures will have no direct impact on the war between Russia and Ukraine, it’s a sign of European countries being increasingly willing to break with the U.S. on the world stage, particularly when it comes to the conflict in Ukraine. U.S. outreach to Russia, coupled with bellicose rhetoric from President Donald Trump and top administration officials in recent weeks, have alienated Ukraine and European allies.
Acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dorothy Shea described the original version of the U.S. draft resolution as “a simple historic statement from the General Assembly that looks forward, not backwards. A resolution focused on one simple idea: ending the war.”
But Ukraine and other European allies warned that a statement devoid of condemnation would undermine the U.N.’s commitments to human rights in the face of alleged Russian war crimes over the course of the war.
“The way we answer to Russian atrocities and crimes, the way we answer to aggression as a tool of statecraft will define not only the future of Ukraine, will define not only the future of Europe; it will define our common future, the future of the entire democratic world and the future of the U.N.,” said Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa in her speech to the General Assembly before the vote.
Meanwhile, Moscow’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, reiterated Kremlin talking points that Russia’s invasion was justified to “de-Nazify” Ukraine and prevent the expansion of the NATO alliance closer to Russia’s borders.