On the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the international community has again called for the withdrawal of troops. On Thursday, 141 of the 193 member states of the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a corresponding resolution. Some states abstained, while six countries (and the Kremlin) voted against the draft.
These include Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua and Syria. The resolution calls for peace in Ukraine and the withdrawal of Russian troops. Positions already taken by the committee are reconfirmed. Kiev and its supporters thus followed similar voting results from last year with more than 140 votes. With the result they want to show that support for Ukraine is not crumbling.
India and China abstained from voting
As with previous votes, China and India, two large countries with a combined population of about 2.8 billion, abstained on Thursday. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) gave a speech before the vote in New York. “Today, each of us must make a choice: stand isolated with the oppressor – or stand together for peace. If Russia stops fighting, this war will end. If Ukraine stops fighting, it will mean the end of Ukraine” , she said.
China’s UN representative Dai Bing has criticized arms sales to Ukraine and a “cold war mentality”. Before the UN vote, there were lengthy discussions about how substantial a resolution on the anniversary could be. According to UN sources, certain ideas of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not make it. Among them were a war crimes tribunal and a ten-point peace plan.
For example, the document now adopted demands a full exchange of prisoners of war. Those responsible for the most serious war crimes must also be held accountable, it said. “In the past year, not only have we seen the suffering and devastation increase, it is becoming increasingly clear how much worse it can get,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said before the General Assembly on Wednesday. The danger of a continuing spiral of conflict is clear and very concrete.
Source: Krone
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