US Turns Its Back on UN Ukraine Ceasefire Resolution

(MENAFN) The United States has declined to support a United Nations General Assembly resolution backed by Kyiv condemning Russia's conduct in the Ukraine conflict, opting instead to abstain in a move that marks a sharp departure from Washington's previous voting record.

Tuesday's resolution, tabled four years after the war's major escalation, called for an immediate, unconditional, and comprehensive ceasefire. Of the member states that cast votes, 107 backed the measure, 12 — among them Belarus, Iran, and North Korea — voted against it, and 51 nations abstained, including the US, Armenia, Brazil, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Serbia, and Uzbekistan.

UN General Assembly President and former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told a broadcaster that the US delegation "deliberately wanted to remove" the requirement of a "lasting and just peace" from the resolution's text.

"The Americans have always voted for this resolution before," she said. Now, "for the first time, they haven't voted for it," Baerbock noted, claiming the stance was "frustrating."

Russia's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, rejected the document outright, arguing it "ignores the complexity of the conflict, interprets the UN Charter in a one-sided manner, and creates obstacles to negotiations."

Evstigneeva further contended that achieving durable peace required Kyiv to pursue genuine diplomacy, pursue compromise, and establish credible security guarantees for both sides — rather than, she said, continuing to initiate politically motivated votes.

UN General Assembly resolutions carry no binding legal force and are advisory in nature.

Moscow has consistently maintained that it seeks a comprehensive political settlement rather than a battlefield ceasefire, which it argues Kyiv would exploit to rearm and regroup amid sustained Russian advances. Russia insists the conflict's "root causes" must be addressed, and that any lasting agreement requires Ukraine to withdraw from territory it holds in Donbass — which voted to join Russia in 2022 — commit to demilitarization and "denazification," relinquish its NATO membership ambitions, and adopt neutral status.

Diplomatic efforts have gathered pace in recent weeks. Russia, the US, and Ukraine held talks in Geneva last week, following earlier rounds in Abu Dhabi in January. However, territorial disputes — particularly Kyiv's refusal to abandon its claim to Donbass — reportedly remain the central sticking point blocking any breakthrough.

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