Voice of America
25 Feb 2025, 01:36 GMT+10
The United States pushed through its “Path for Peace” resolution at the U.N. Security Council on Monday, despite vocal reservations by Britain and European allies, as the world marked three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“This resolution puts us on the path to peace,” U.S. envoy Dorothy Shea told council members. “It is a first step, but crucial one — one of which we should all be proud. Now we must use it to build a peaceful future for Ukraine, Russia and the international community.”
The four-line text mourns the loss of life “throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict” and notes that the main purpose of the United Nations “is to maintain international peace and security and to peacefully settle disputes.” It also "implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.”
It was passed with 10 votes in favor, including Russia and China voting with the United States, and abstentions from Britain and the four European members of the Council. No member voted against it.
France and Britain had tried to win a postponement of the vote but failed. Then they, along with Denmark, Greece and Slovenia, sought amendments to the U.S. text, including replacing the wording “the Russia-Ukraine conflict” with “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.”
They also wanted to include language supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and for a “just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”
“While we are fully committed to peace in Ukraine, we call for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, and certainly not for capitulation of the victim,” France’s ambassador, Nicolas de Riviere, said.
Britain’s ambassador said the terms of peace matter.
“Only a just peace, one that honors the terms of our [U.N.] Charter will endure, and the terms of the peace must send a message that aggression does not pay,” Ambassador Barbara Woodward said.
Russia proposed two amendments of its own — one on what it sees as the root causes of the conflict, and another diluting language on the war.
Efforts to amend the U.S. text failed, either due to insufficient council support, or in two cases, a Russian veto. Washington abstained on the amendment votes.
The action in the Security Council followed a vote hours earlier in the General Assembly on two competing draft resolutions from Ukraine and the United States. Each narrowly passed with a two-thirds majority, but they saw Washington challenge allies Ukraine and the European Union on language characterizing the conflict and its eventual settlement.
In the weeks leading up to the General Assembly meeting, the Ukrainians and Europeans circulated a draft resolution that reflected previous ones adopted by the 193-member body in the past three years.
It included a reference to Russia’s “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” and calls for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in line with the United Nations Charter and “within its internationally recognized borders.” Then late Friday afternoon, the United States put forward its short Path for Peace text.
Stunned European diplomats met through the weekend to find a way to prevent the U.S. draft from undermining international support for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war.
On Monday morning, they proposed three amendments to the U.S. text that were later adopted by the General Assembly but ultimately rejected in the Security Council.
When the amended U.S. text was put to a vote, Washington abstained on its own resolution. It was adopted with 93 states in favor, 8 against and 73 abstentions.
“These amendments pursue a war of words rather than an end to the war,” Shea, the U.S. envoy, said. “The attempt to add this language detracts from what we are trying to achieve with this forward-looking resolution: a firm consensus from the members of this body to unite behind a resolution calling for the end to this conflict.”
Russia also voted against the U.S. draft, because its attempt to amend it with language to address what it said were the root causes of the conflict was rejected by the assembly.
“The essence of it has become completely distorted,” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, but he welcomed the U.S. move and said he hoped it would be followed by other new initiatives.
“I think that today, our American colleagues have seen for themselves that the road to peace in Ukraine will not be an easy one, and there will be many who will try to make sure the peace does not come for as long as possible,” Nebenzia said.
The Ukrainian and European resolution was approved to loud applause with 93 states in favor, 18 against and 65 abstentions, but it was the weakest support Ukraine has received over the course of the last three years in the General Assembly.
“Russia believed Ukraine would surrender. Russia believed we would fall in three days. Russia believed our government would flee. However, Russia miscalculated gravely,” Mariana Betsa, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, told the gathering, saying Ukrainians continue to stand firm and resist.
In a stunning shift, the United States voted against the Ukrainian text. So did Russia, its allies Belarus and North Korea, several African states, European Union outlier Hungary, and Israel.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do carry the moral weight of the international community.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in Geneva Monday, where he said countries “must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the U.N. Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.”
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