The UN General Assembly on Wednesday condemned with a large majority the “illegal annexations” of territories of Ukraine by Russia. The resolution, according to the draft seen by AFP, “condemns the attempted illegal annexations” of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhya and Kherson after “alleged illegal referendums” and stresses that these actions have “not invalid” under international law.
The resolution adopted by the General Assembly, which has been meeting since Monday, “demands that the Russian Federation immediately and unconditionally reverse its decision of September 29” relating to the integration of Ukrainian regions into Russia.
The text also calls for no state to recognize these annexations and calls for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine who entered on February 24.
The resolution passed with 143 votes in favor, five countries against and 35 abstaining, including China, India, Pakistan and South Africa, despite diplomatic efforts by the United States. The five states that voted against are, unsurprisingly, Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Nicaragua.
Show Russia’s isolation
Ahead of the vote, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield had urged all countries to affirm that the international community “would not tolerate the seizure of a neighbor’s territory by force”. . “Today Russia is invading Ukraine. But tomorrow the territory of another nation could be violated. It could be you. You could be the next” country, launched the American diplomat at the podium of the United Nations.
With this text, co-drafted by the European Union and presented by Ukraine, Westerners hope to demonstrate that President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is isolated on the international scene, seven months after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, kyiv claimed to have retaken several localities from the Russian army in the south of the country and welcomed the arrival of a new Western anti-aircraft defense system, predicting “a new era” after two days of intensive bombing. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured that the supply of these systems capable of neutralizing Russian missiles in the Ukrainian sky was “the priority”.
The promise comes after Ukraine came under “massive” salvos of missiles, rockets and drones on Monday and Tuesday, targeting in particular its civilian energy infrastructure. President Putin presented these strikes as retaliation for the explosive attack which damaged the Crimean bridge and which he blames on kyiv.