On Thursday, the United Nations General Assembly passed a new non-binding resolution calling for an “immediate” end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
140 countries voted in favor, 38 abstained, and five voted against the measure at UN headquarters in New York, with applause ringing out afterward.
The vote comes after 141 countries voted in favor of a similar non-binding resolution on March 2 demanding that Russia immediately cease its use of force.
At an emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Ukraine presented the new resolution, which was initially written by France and Mexico.
South Africa’s competing text, which did not mention Russia by name, obtained only 50 votes in favor, 67 votes against, and 36 abstentions, and therefore was not adopted.
The passed resolution singles out Russia and calls for an “immediate cessation of hostilities by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, including any assaults against civilians and civilian objects.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, hailed the resolution as “building” on the March 2 vote.
It was said by her “makes a personal appeal to the one person who has the power to put an end to the bloodshed. Vladimir Putin is the man in question.”
Russia presented a resolution to the United Nations Security Council on the “humanitarian situation” in Ukraine on Wednesday, but it was not adopted.
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