The UN Security Council has defeated a Russian resolution that would have acknowledged Ukraine’s growing humanitarian needs – but without mentioning the Russian invasion that caused the crisis.
To pass, the resolution needed a minimum of nine “yes” votes in the 15-member council, and no veto by any of the four other members with veto power.
But in Wednesday’s vote, Russia got support only from China, with the 13 other council members abstaining.
The Russian defeat came on the same day the General Assembly started consideration of a resolution drafted by Ukraine and two dozen other countries from all parts of the world and co-sponsored by nearly 100 nations which clearly states that Russia’s aggression is responsible for the growing humanitarian emergency.
The assembly was also to consider a rival South African resolution that makes no mention of Russia and is similar to the defeated Security Council resolution.
Russia introduced its resolution on March 15. A day earlier, France and Mexico decided to move their proposed humanitarian resolution blaming the Russian invasion for the humanitarian crisis out of the Security Council, where it faced a Russian veto. There are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia told the assembly that by considering the French-Mexican resolution, it was engaging in “another political anti-Russian show, set this time in an allegedly humanitarian context”.
If Western nations “were really concerned about the humanitarian situation on the ground,” he said, they could show it by voting for Russia’s humanitarian resolution in the Security Council.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield vehemently objected when Russia announced that it was calling for the Security Council vote on Wednesday, saying: “Russia is the aggressor here, and it is absolutely unconscionable for Russia to think that they can put forward a humanitarian resolution.”
Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsy urged all nations that stand against Russia’s war on his country to vote for a UN resolution on the humanitarian consequences of its aggression, saying this would send a powerful message aimed at helping people caught in the conflict and ending Moscow’s military action.
Russia’s UN envoy countered that the emergency special session of the UN General Assembly, which is considering the resolution, is just “another political anti-Russian show, set this time in an allegedly humanitarian context”.
Mr Nebenzia urged the assembly’s 193 member nations to vote against the Ukrainian-backed measure and support the South African draft resolution that focuses solely on humanitarian issues with no “political assessment”.
Ukraine’s and Russia’s ambassadors were among the first of nearly 70 national representatives scheduled to speak before the assembly votes on the rival resolutions on the humanitarian impact of the war, which will mark its one-month anniversary om Thursday.
