The United States voted against a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly on Monday that blamed Russia for invading Ukraine exactly three years ago.
The U.S. was joined by Russia, North Korea, Belarus, and 14 other Moscow-friendly nations in voting against the resolution, which included language condemning Russian aggression and calling for Moscow to give up the territory it occupies, which ultimately passed by a wide margin. The vote was 93-18, with 65 abstentions.
The resolution said in part, “with concern the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has persisted for three years and continues to have devastating and long-lasting consequences not only for Ukraine, but also for other regions and global stability” and “calls for a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine.”
The U.S. delegation also abstained on its own separate resolution that called only for a negotiated end to the war without attributing blame for the conflict, although European-sponsored amendments added anti-Russian language, and that also passed the 193-member body by a big margin.
The vote on the amended U.S. resolution was 93-8, with 73 abstentions. Ukraine voted in favor of it, the U.S. abstained, and Russia voted against it.
Resolutions are not binding but are indicative of the global consensus on a problem. The U.S.’s actions at the U.N. on Monday are the latest indication of the growing divide between the U.S., Europe, and Ukraine.
The Trump administration is pursuing an end to Russia’s war and has displayed a much friendlier posture toward Moscow than European nations and the Biden administration before it.
Over the last couple weeks, President Donald Trump has spoken with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and senior U.S. officials met with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia as well. The two leaders discussed potentially visiting each other’s countries in time, while the Cabinet officials agreed to restart diplomatic norms.
Trump said on Monday that his discussions with Putin regarding the end of the war and “major Economic Development transactions” were going “very well.”
Comparatively, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has exchanged insults with Trump in recent weeks. Trump has called him a “dictator” and blamed him for the war, while Zelensky then alleged Trump lived in a “disinformation space.”
US-UKRAINE RELATIONSHIP REACHES INFLECTION POINT ON THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF WAR
The two sides are close to agreeing on a mineral rights deal that U.S. officials have described as a long-term economic partnership in which the U.S. would get repaid billions of dollars for the military support the U.S. provided during the war.