The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly approved a draft resolution incorporating key provisions of Ukraine’s “peace formula” proposed in the fall of 2022. The document is a ten-point plan to end the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At an extraordinary session of the General Assembly on Thursday, 141 UN member states voted in favor of the resolution, and 32 abstained (including Iran, Kazakhstan and China).
Only seven countries opposed it: Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, and Syria.
UN resolution demands that Russia withdraws its troops from Ukraine
The document also demands that the Russian Federation “immediately, fully and unconditionally withdraw all its armed forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders”.
It also calls for properly treating prisoners of war, full compliance with international humanitarian law, and “an immediate cessation of attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.”
The resolution also mentions the need to “ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law committed on the territory of Ukraine through proper, fair and independent investigations and prosecutions at the national or international level”.
The resolution also calls on UN members to cooperate to address the global consequences of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and “emphasizes that measures to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine must take these factors into account.”
At the same time, the UN General Assembly rejected two amendments by Belarus, which were intended to “dilute” the resolution. The first one condemned statements by foreign leaders regarding the Minsk agreements, and the other called for an end to military aid to Ukraine.
Zelensky thanked 141 countries for the support
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky wrote: “I am grateful to all the countries that supported the critical UN General Assembly resolution ‘Principles of the Charter of the United Nations that emphasize the importance of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine’.”
According to him, this resolution is a powerful signal of unwavering global support for Ukraine, a powerful testament to the solidarity of the international community with the people of Ukraine in the context of the anniversary of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation” and global support for the Ukrainian “peace formula.”
I am grateful to all the countries that endorsed the crucial @UN General Assembly resolution "Principles of the Charter of the United Nations that underline the comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine". 1/2 pic.twitter.com/nFx8OuOMug
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 23, 2023
Ukraine’s 10-point peace plan to stop the war
As you know, in his speech at the G20 summit in the fall of 2022, the President of Ukraine presented a 10-point peace plan covering issues such as security, including food and energy, and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.
Later, the United States, the European Union, and Turkey, among others, supported him. The Ukrainian side announced its intention to hold an event dedicated to the “peace formula” on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion.
As a reminder, in October 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the illegal “referendums” that Russia organized in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions of Ukraine by 143 out of 193 votes.
