U.N. Security Council adopts neutral 1st resolution on Ukraine
The U.N. Security Council on Monday called for the end of the war in Ukraine in its first resolution adopted on the conflict, but the U.S.-drafted text did not blame Russia for the conflict by avoiding wording that described Russia’s actions as an “invasion.”
The key body of the United Nations had failed to approve such a binding motion due to wide differences among the veto-wielding permanent members such as Russia and the United States.
The three-paragraph resolution, adopted three years to the day since Russia invaded its neighbor, said the council “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace” between Ukraine and Russia and mourns “the tragic loss of life” throughout the conflict.
A U.N. General Assembly emergency special session on Ukraine is held in New York on Feb. 24, 2025. (Kyodo)
“The United States drafted this text to mark the commitment of the United Nations, and the Security Council in particular, to bringing a durable end to the war in Ukraine,” Dorothy Shea, acting head of the U.S. mission to the United Nations, told a session.
Ten of the Security Council’s 15 members voted in favor of the resolution, with five, including Britain and France, abstaining.
At the General Assembly the same day, however, the United States and key supporters of Kyiv in the war remained apart over the language in draft resolutions and the future of the war.
At a plenary session, Washington opposed a resolution put forward by European countries urging territorial integrity for Ukraine.
The motion, proposed by scores of countries including Britain, France and Germany as well as Japan and Ukraine, was adopted with the backing of 93 members.
It mentions “the urgent need to end the war this year” and the assembly’s “commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.”
The United States was among 18 members to vote against it and submitted a separate resolution the same day calling for an end to “the Russian Federation-Ukraine conflict.”
But the assembly decided to change the language to the “full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.” Washington abstained from a vote on the revised version.
The situation demonstrated a shift in U.S. policies on the war under President Donald Trump, who returned to power last month for a nonconsecutive second term. In contrast, his predecessor Joe Biden was largely in step with Europe in efforts to back Ukraine.
The Trump administration has caused widespread concern in Europe by excluding Ukraine from talks with Russia about a possible cease-fire, and cast doubt on the ability of member nations to cooperate on actions to end the war.
Trump’s description last week of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections” and his false claim that Ukraine started the conflict also polarized the allies.
Photo shows Independence Square in central Kyiv on Feb. 24, 2025, the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
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