UNITED NATIONS: Marking one year since Russia invaded Ukraine, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly will vote next week on a draft resolution stressing “the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in line with the founding UN Charter.
It again demands Moscow withdraw its troops and calls for a halt to hostilities. The 193-member General Assembly is likely to vote next Thursday (Feb 23) after two days of speeches by dozens of states to mark the Feb 24 anniversary of the start of the war.
Ukraine and its supporters hope to deepen Russia’s diplomatic isolation by seeking yes votes from nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly to match – if not better – the support received for several resolutions last year.
“We count on very broad support from the membership. What is at stake is not just the fate of Ukraine, it is the respect of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of every state,” said European Union Ambassador Olof Skoog, who helped lead the drafting of the General Assembly resolution.
Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy declined to comment on the draft resolution, which member states received on Wednesday.
The General Assembly has been the focus for UN action on Ukraine because the 15-member Security Council has been paralyzed by Russia, which holds veto power along with the United States, China, France and Britain.
The Security Council has instead held dozens of meetings on Ukraine in the past year and will again discuss the war next Friday at a ministerial gathering. Diplomats said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is unlikely to travel to New York.
“ATTACK ON A NEIGHBOUR”
General Assembly resolutions are not legally-binding but carry political weight.
Ukraine had wanted the General Assembly draft resolution to enshrine a 10-point peace plan proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but diplomats said the draft was simplified in a bid to garner as much support as possible.
As Russia and the West have vied for diplomatic influence, some states – particularly in the global South – worry they are squeezed in the middle of an intense geopolitical rivalry.
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