New level of escalation

USA outraged by UN resolution in Russia’s favor

In New York, demonstrations were held in support of Ukraine.

(Bild: SPENCER PLATT/Getty Images via AFP)

Donald Trump has absolved Russia of blame for the attack on Ukraine on the international stage. The UN Security Council voted in favor of a pro-Kremlin resolution that no longer even mentions the sovereignty of the attacked country ...

In the dispute between the USA and Europe over the course of the war in Ukraine, US President Donald Trump has secured the backing of the UN Security Council. The most powerful UN body with 15 council members voted in favor of a pro-Moscow Ukraine resolution by the US government on Monday evening in New York.

After many vetoes by Russia, it was the first joint resolution on war since the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

"The path to peace"
The proposed resolution entitled "The road to peace" does not name Moscow as the aggressor in the war, does not call for a Russian withdrawal and does not mention the territorial integrity of Ukraine. It merely calls for a swift end to the war, without specifying any conditions.

In the UN General Assembly before all 193 members, however, the US government did not succeed with a draft resolution with identical wording. Trump had underpinned his rhetorical shift away from Ukraine and towards Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin with a diplomatic push at the United Nations.

Great Britain and France remain silent
The text received a majority of 10 out of 15 votes in the Security Council. Russia and China, among others, voted with the USA, while all five European countries on the Council - the UK, France and the non-permanent members Slovenia, Denmark and Greece - abstained. Resolutions in the UN Security Council are binding under international law.

The British and French theoretically have a right of veto, but have not used it since 1989. A change in this practice would have been interpreted as a significant break with their diplomatic line, which neither country wanted to give up, while the Europeans are making intensive efforts to reach an understanding with Trump.

A deepening of the new rift between the transatlantic partners would also have come at an inopportune time, as French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to sound out common positions with Trump during his visit to Washington on Monday. However, diplomatic circles told the German Press Agency that a veto was considered until the very end.

US Ambassador Dorothy Shea

(Bild: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images via AFP)

Clear criticism of the resolution
British UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward spoke out clearly against the resolution at the meeting: "There can be no equation between Russia and Ukraine when this body talks about this war." Moscow is to blame for the war of aggression against a sovereign state, which has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. France's Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière declared: "There will be no peace and security anywhere if aggression is rewarded."

Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea, on the other hand, said that the world was "on the precipice of history" and that peace was needed as soon as possible. She also wanted to reassure the Europeans: "We listen to our European colleagues when they say that they want a lasting peace, but not at any price," she said.

She wanted to reassure them that the USA was also striving for a "lasting peace". The resolution is not a peace agreement and does not entail any costs.

Russia, meanwhile, spoke of a good first step, while China declared that it supported the US-Russian efforts to achieve peace. Trump is likely to see the Security Council's vote as a sign of support for his attempt to force peace together with Putin, even against Ukraine's will if necessary.

Push in UN General Assembly without success
However, Trump's initiative also met with clear resistance from the United Nations on a larger scale. Prior to the vote in the Security Council, the USA had already attempted to gain global approval for a change of course in the war in Ukraine in the UN General Assembly with an identical draft resolution.

However, the largest body of the United Nations prevented the pro-Kremlin resolution: several amendments from EU states, Ukraine and the UK received the necessary majority of the 193 UN members, with the result that the US text clearly named Russia as the aggressor and was reinterpreted in the Ukrainian sense at key points.

Support for Kiev is crumbling
Washington ultimately abstained from the vote on its amended resolution, as did China, while Russia and seven states voted against it. 93 countries, including Germany and most EU states, voted in favor - significantly less support for Kiev than for similar resolutions before.

A second resolution for the General Assembly, drafted by Ukraine itself together with the EU representation, also saw many abstentions, which is seen as a distancing of these countries from the US-European dispute over the Ukraine course. Hungary, whose government is considered to be extremely pro-Trump, broke away and clearly sided with Washington. Alongside countries such as North Korea, Belarus and Russia (see tweet above).