New York: The UN Security Council voted on Monday in favour of a US government resolution on Ukraine that calls for a rapid end to the war but does not name Russia as the aggressor.
This is the first time that the most powerful UN body has reached a joint decision on the war. Ten countries voted in favour of the resolution and five abstained, thereby reaching the required majority.
The United States voted with Russia and China, while all five European countries on the Council — Great Britain, France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece — abstained. In theory, the British and French have the right to veto a resolution, but they have not used it since1989.
Resolutions in the UN Security Council are binding under international law.
The adopted document, entitled "The Path to Peace", does not name Moscow as the aggressor in the war and does not call for a Russian withdrawal, merely a swift end to the war.
The British UN ambassador, Barbara Woodward, spoke out clearly against the resolution: "There can be no equivalence between Russia and Ukraine in how this Council refers to this war," she said in a speech before the council that was also released as a statement.
The vote came on the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale war of Ukraine.
"Today, we remember the millions of Ukrainians displaced, the tens of thousands of civilians killed, the lives destroyed by [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin's imperial ambition," Woodward said.
France's UN ambassador, Nicolas de Rivière, said peace and security is not possible if aggression is rewarded.
US ambassador Dorothy Shea said the resolution was a first step.
"This resolution puts us on the path to peace," she said.
"It is a first step, but a 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."
Earlier on Monday, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution with support of European countries, but not the US, that identified Moscow as the aggressor in the war and demanded Russian troops withdraw from Ukrainian territory.
Unlike the Security Council, resolutions in the General Assembly are not legally binding — but a vote in the UN's largest body is seen as a global test of sentiment.
Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine during the night into Tuesday with a combination of combat drones and cruise missiles, a day after Moscow was emboldened by the US at the United Nations.
The cruise missiles were launched from four Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers over the Russian Volga region near Engels, according to the Ukrainian air force.
Kiev changed its warning messages to the population every few minutes during the night because the cruise missiles changed direction several times over Ukraine, similar to combat drones.
No information on missile impacts has yet been provided. — dpa
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