As US President Donald Trump stakes out a new position on the Ukraine war, a European-backed text marking the conflict's third anniversary won93 votes for and 18 votes against, with 65 abstentions. The text -- which won far less support compared to previous resolution on the war -- strongly criticizes Russia, and emphasizes Ukraine's territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders. Washington drafted a rival resolution amid an intensifying feud between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But Washington's ally France put forward amendments to the US text telling the General Assembly that Paris, along with European countries and Britain, would "not be able to support in its current form. The countries, all backers of Ukraine, pushed to reword the US text to say that the "full-scale invasion of Ukraine" has been undertaken by Russia.
Hungary, whose prime minister Viktor Orban is seen as the most pro-Putin leader in Europe, voted against the amendments. The amendments also reaffirmed a commitment to Ukraine's "territorial integrity" -- which had been omitted from the US text. The inviolability of Ukrainian territorial integrity was a cornerstone of previous resolutions passed by the Assembly, with the United States under former president Joe Biden among its strongest supporters.
Following the General Assembly vote, Washington is expected to bring its text to a vote at the Security Council later Monday, with a State Department official warning the US would veto any amendments by Russia or the Europeans. The mechanics of the UN mean that Washington could not veto the amendments brought at the General Assembly. To be adopted by the UNSC, a resolution needs the votes of at least nine of the 15 Security Council members -- while not being vetoed by any of the five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
That would raise the question of whether France or Britain would be prepared to wield their first vetoes in more than 30 years. For the Europeans, the competing votes will be "a test of their standing in the multilateral system. With core principles of international law at stake, UN chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for a peace that "fully upholds Ukraine's territorial integrity" and respects the UN Charter.
