Trump administration refuses to back UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

The United States marked the third anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by siding with Moscow at the United Nations, joining an emerging coalition of autocratic nations in voting against a resolution condemning Kremlin aggression.

The resolution, introduced by Ukraine, passed with the support of 93 nations in the UN General Assembly, with 65 abstentions, NBC News reported. It condemns the February 2002 invasion and reaffirms that Russia is solely responsible for launching it.

“As we mark three years of this devastation — Russia’s full invasion against Ukraine — we call on all nations to stand firm and to take … the side of the Charter, the side of humanity and the side of just and lasting peace, peace through strength,” Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said Monday.

Passage of the resolution is a significant diplomatic defeat for the Trump administration, which had urged its erstwhile European allies to vote against the measure and instead back its own resolution, which made no mention of Russian responsibility for the war, Reuters reported. After European countries amended the U.S.-sponsored resolution, replacing mention of the “conflict” in Ukraine with “the-full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation,” the Trump administration was forced to abstain from its proposal.

On the Ukraine-sponsored resolution, the U.S. joined Russia and its allies in voting “no.” Others siding with Moscow included authoritarian nations such as North Korea, which has deployed troops to support Russia’s invasion, as well as Hungary, Belarus and Nicaragua.

In remarks ahead of votes on Monday, Ambassador Dorothy Shea, serving as the top U.S. diplomat at the UN until the Senate confirms former Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., portrayed the Trump administration as focused on ending the war, arguing that past UN resolutions had not achieved that goal.

“Since the start of the war 11 years ago, the United Nations has repeatedly condemned Russia’s blatant violations of the UN Charter,” Shea said, referencing Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. ”Multiple resolutions of the General Assembly have demanded that Russia withdraw its forces from Ukraine. Those resolutions have failed to stop the war. It has now dragged on for far too long, and at far too terrible a cost to the people in Ukraine, in Russia, and beyond.”