The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution demanding Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine and end the fighting, a year after Russia launched its invasion.
The resolution (PDF) reaffirmed Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity, and also urged a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” that it said “would constitute a significant contribution to strengthening international peace and security”.
As many as 141 countries voted in favour of the resolution, with 32 abstaining.
Seven countries, including Russia, voted against it.
At the last UNGA vote about the war in October last year, 143 countries backed the resolution condemning Russia for annexing four regions of Ukraine. On that occasion, 35 countries abstained and five, including Russia, voted against it.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed the resolution’s adoption.
“The impact is very clear. It sets the perception,” Kuleba told reporters at the UN in New York City after the vote. “It shows who stands where. If resolutions had no impact Russia would not be fiercely fighting against them. This is politics. This is how it is being made.”
The vote shows that a year after the war began, most countries around the world remain deeply disturbed by Russia’s invasion, which President Vladimir Putin has styled as a “special military operation”.
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