In what the United Nations dubbed as a “historic” “Uniting for Peace” session, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which demanded that Putin’s Russian Federation immediately “cease its use of force against Ukraine and withdraw its military forces.”
In historic "Uniting for Peace" session, #UNGA adopts resolution demanding that the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine and withdraw its military forces. https://t.co/xWc4QO8ruV pic.twitter.com/NZ5xG7Cfu2
— United Nations (@UN) March 2, 2022
141 countries voted in favor of the resolution. Five countries voted against (Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Russia and Syria), while 34 countries abstained from voting (Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Cuba, El Salvador, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zimbabwe).
“At every step of the way, Russia has betrayed the United Nations. Russia’s actions go against everything this body stands for,” U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
“This is an extraordinary moment,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “Now, at more than any other point in recent history, the United Nations is being challenged.”
“Vote yes if you believe UN member states – including your own – have a right to sovereignty and territorial integrity. Vote yes if you believe Russia should be held to account for its actions,” she added.
“The message of the General Assembly is loud and clear: end hostilities in Ukraine — now,” United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said. “Silence the guns — now. Open the door to dialogue and diplomacy – now.”
"The message of the General Assembly is loud & clear:
End hostilities in Ukraine — now.
Silence the guns — now.
Open the door to dialogue & diplomacy — now."
— @antonioguterres following historic #UNGA vote. https://t.co/5ust6qBEF9 pic.twitter.com/t7BfHJMj8f
— United Nations (@UN) March 2, 2022
The resolution, titled “Aggression against Ukraine,” reaffirmed the United Nations’ “commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters.”
The resolution deplored “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine,” and demanded that “the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine and to refrain from any further unlawful threat or use of force against any Member State.”
The resolution, which is not legally binding in any form, also demanded that “the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.”
“It isn’t going to stop Russian forces in their stride, but it’s a pretty enormous diplomatic win for the Ukrainians and the US, and everyone who has got behind them,” Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group, said.
Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian representative at the United Nations, said that those considering an abstention vote would be making a “mistake.”
“The evil will never stop. It requires more and more space to conquer. If tolerated it advances further and further,” Kyslytsya said. “The draft resolution is one of the building blocks to build a wall to stop it to stop in Ukraine and not to let it go further.”
“We know about the unprecedented pressure that our western partners are exerting on a large number of countries urging them to vote as they [the West] see fit,” Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s representative, said. “This is not something even we can call pressure. It was open and cynical threats.”
Ian Haworth is a writer for The Daily Wire and contributor to Morning Wire. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.