By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United States abstained on Monday in a United Nations vote on a resolution it drafted to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after the General Assembly agreed to add language supportive of Kyiv to Washington’s text.
The vote was a victory for European nations concerned about U.S. overtures to Russia by the administration of President Donald Trump in talks to end the war.
The original U.S. draft was three paragraphs – mourning the loss of life during the “Russia-Ukraine conflict”, reiterating that the U.N.’s main purpose is to maintain international peace and security and peacefully settle disputes, and urging a swift end to the conflict and a lasting peace.
But European amendments added references to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the need for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in line with the founding U.N. Charter and reaffirmed the U.N.’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.
“Multiple resolutions … have demanded that Russia withdraw its forces from Ukraine. Those resolutions have failed to stop the war,” Acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea said before the vote. “What we need is a resolution, marking the commitment from all U.N. member states to bring a durable end to the war.”
The amended U.S.-drafted resolution won 93 votes in favor, while 73 states abstained and eight voted no.
The U.S. push for U.N. action came after Trump launched a bid to broker an end to the war, sparking a rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and raising concerns among European allies that they could be cut out of peace talks. U.S. and Russian officials met last Tuesday.
“This war has never been about Ukraine only. It is about a fundamental right of any country to exist, to choose its own path and to live free from aggression,” Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Betsa Mariana told the assembly before the vote.
The U.S. put forward its text on Friday, pitting it against Ukraine and European allies who spent the past month negotiating with their own resolution. The General Assembly also adopted the resolution drafted by Ukraine and European countries on Monday with 93 votes in favor, 65 abstentions and 18 no votes.
Before the votes, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia praised Trump for realizing Zelenskiy is “not at all interested in having peace in his country because he’s clinging to power.”
“To make sure that this initiative is fully in line with the understandings arrived at during the Russian and American contacts at the highest levels, we introduce an amendment … about the need to eliminate the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis,” Nebenzia told the assembly. “And this, by the way, was mentioned by President Trump several times.”
The 15-member Security Council is also set to vote on the same U.S. text later on Monday. A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the U.S., Russia, China, Britain or France to be adopted.
Russia failed in an attempt on Monday to amend the U.S.-drafted resolution in the General Assembly to include a reference to addressing the “root causes” of the conflict.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Susan Heavey and Alistair Bell)
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