![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mariana-Betsa-ukraine-UN-AP-320x200.jpg?v=1740469900\")
\n <\/source><\/picture>\n
Mariana Betsa, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, left, addresses the UN Security Council, as Poland Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, right, listens on Feb. 24, 2025, at the United Nations headquarters. [Richard Drew\/AP]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
In a dramatic shift in transatlantic relations under President Donald Trump, the United States split with its European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on three UN resolutions Monday seeking an end to the three-year war.<\/p>\n
The growing divide follows Trump\u2019s decision to open direct negotiations with Russia on ending the war, dismaying Ukraine and its European supporters by excluding them from the preliminary talks last week.<\/p>\n
In the UN General Assembly, the US joined Russia in voting against a Europe-backed Ukrainian resolution that calls out Moscow\u2019s aggression and demands an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops.<\/p>\n
The US then abstained from voting on its own competing resolution after Europeans. led by France, succeeded in amending it to make clear Russia was the aggressor. The voting was taking place on the third anniversary of Russia\u2019s invasion and as Trump was hosting French President Emmanuel Macron in Washington.<\/p>\n
It was a major setback for the Trump administration in the 193-member world body, whose resolutions are not legally binding but are seen as a barometer of world opinion.<\/p>\n
The US then pushed for a vote on its original draft in the more powerful UN Security Council, where resolutions are legally binding and it has veto power along with Russia, China, Britain and France. The vote in the 15-member council was 10-0 with five European countries abstaining \u2013 Britain, France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia.<\/p>\n
The dueling resolutions also reflect the tensions that have emerged between the U.S. and Ukraine. In escalating rhetoric, Trump has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a \u201cdictator\u201d for not holding elections during wartime, when much of Ukraine is under Russian occupation, its soldiers are on the frontlines and the country is under martial law.<\/p>\n
Trump also has falsely accused Kyiv of starting the war and warned that he \u201cbetter move fast\u201d to negotiate an end to the conflict or risk not having a nation to lead. Zelenskyy responded by saying Trump was living in a Russian-made \u201cdisinformation space.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a whirlwind of diplomacy, Trump\u2019s meeting with Macron will be followed by a visit on Thursday from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer , key US allies who were in lockstep with Washington on Ukraine just over a month ago. They now find themselves on opposite sides on the best pathway for the UN to call for an end to the war.<\/p>\n
The General Assembly voted 93-18 with 65 abstentions to approve the Ukrainian resolution. The result showed some diminished support for Ukraine, because previous assembly votes saw more than 140 nations condemn Russia\u2019s aggression and demand an immediate withdrawal.<\/p>\n
The assembly then turned to the US-drafted resolution, which acknowledges \u201cthe tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict\u201d and \u201cimplores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia,\u201d but never mentions Moscow\u2019s aggression.<\/p>\n
In a surprise move, France proposed three amendments, which add that the conflict was the result of a \u201cfull-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.\u201d The amendments reaffirm the assembly\u2019s commitment to Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity, and call for peace that respects the UN Charter.<\/p>\n
Russia proposed an amendment calling for \u201croot causes\u201d of the conflict to be addressed.<\/p>\n
All the amendments were approved and the resolution passed 93-8 with 73 abstentions, with Ukraine voting \u201cyes,\u201d the US abstaining, and Russia voting \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both assembly resolutions were supported by US allies in Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, its neighbors Canada and Mexico and European countries, with the exception of Hungary.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said her country is exercising its \u201cinherent right to self-defense\u201d following Russia\u2019s invasion, which violates the UN Charter\u2019s requirement that countries respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other nations.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we mark three years of this devastation \u2014 Russia\u2019s full invasion against Ukraine \u2014 we call on all nations to stand firm and to take \u2026 the side of the Charter, the side of humanity and the side of just and lasting peace, peace through strength,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Trump has often stated his commitment to bringing \u201cpeace through strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward warned the council, \u201cIf Russia is allowed to win, we will live in a world where might is right, where borders can be redrawn by force, where aggressors think they can act with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denmark\u2019s Lotte Machon, a deputy foreign minister, stressed that in peace negotiations, \u201cnothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, nothing about European security without Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
US deputy ambassador Dorothy Shea, meanwhile, said multiple previous UN resolutions condemning Russia and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops \u201chave failed to stop the war,\u201d which \u201chas now dragged on for far too long and at far too terrible a cost to the people in Ukraine and Russia and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we need is a resolution marking the commitment from all UN member states to bring a durable end to the war,\u201d Shea said before the vote.<\/p>\n
In the Security Council, Russia used its veto to prevent European amendments to the US resolution, which is legally blinding but essentially toothless. It only operative paragraph \u201cImplores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shea called it \u201ca first step, but a crucial one,\u201d saying it \u201cputs us on the path to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
The General Assembly has become the most important UN body on Ukraine because the Security Council has been paralyzed by Russia\u2019s veto power. It has approved half a dozen resolutions since Russian forces stormed across the border on Feb. 24, 2022.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian resolution adopted Monday recalls the need to implement the previous resolutions, singling out the demand that Russia \u201cimmediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resolution reaffirms the assembly\u2019s commitment to Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty and also \u201cthat no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal.\u201d<\/p>\n
It calls for \u201ca de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine\u201d and it reiterates \u201cthe urgent need to end the war this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
[AP]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n