The UN Security Council meets for a meeting Photo: David ‘Dee’ Delgado/ Reuters
The UN Security Council has adopted a US resolution calling for peace between Ukraine and Russia. The document contains the same text that the US had proposed for the UN General Assembly.
The Security Council did not support the amendments of European countries that insisted on enshrining the principle of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and recognising Russia as the aggressor in the text.
The adopted resolution states: “The General Assembly, expressing its sorrow at the tragic loss of life in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, reaffirming that the primary purpose of the United Nations is the maintenance of international peace and security, calls for a swift end to the conflict and for a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.”
Ten countries voted in favour of the resolution: The United States, Russia, China, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Guyana, Somalia, Pakistan, Panama and Algeria. No other country opposed it. Five countries – the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia – abstained.
The Permanent Representative of France to the UN, Nicolas de Riviere, said that European countries are calling for peace, which should be based on the UN Charter and international law, and clearly define the aggressor and the victim. He stressed that there can be no peace if aggression is rewarded.
Barbara Woodward, the UK’s representative to the UN, stressed the need to insist on compliance with the UN Charter and the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders. She said that no peace would be sustainable without Ukraine’s consent, and only negotiations with Kyiv could determine the terms of an end to the war.
A similar text of the resolution will be submitted to the UN General Assembly, but European countries will try to amend it again.
