FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Russian move on Ukraine aid fails at U.N. Security Council

Russian move on Ukraine aid fails at U.N. Security Council

A Russian-drafted call for aid access and civilian protection in Ukraine that does not mention Moscow's role in the crisis failed at the U.N. Security Council on March 23, with only Russia and China voting yes and the remaining 13 members abstaining.

"If Russia cared about the humanitarian situation, it would stop bombing children and end their siege tactics. But they haven't," Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council after the vote. Russia denies attacking civilians.

A Security Council resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by Russia, China, Britain, France or the United States to be adopted. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused those who abstained on Wednesday of doing so "for political reasons."

Explaining China's yes vote, Ambassador Zhang Jun said Beijing had a "strong expectation" that there should be an immediate ceasefire, but that while pushing for a halt to the fighting, the council should "also respond to the humanitarian crisis in a positive, pragmatic and constructive manner."

China abstained last month in a Security Council vote on a draft resolution that would have deplored Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, a move Western countries viewed as a win for showing Russia's isolation. Russia vetoed the resolution.

Moscow had scrapped a planned council vote on the draft aid resolution last Friday after accusing Western countries of an "unprecedented pressure" campaign against the measure. The United States rejected Russia's allegation.

"Russia alone is to blame for the war in Ukraine," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council on Wednesday. "Russia's disingenuous efforts to deny the truth of its actions will continue to fail."

A diplomatic tit-for-tat has been escalating since Russia launched what it calls a "special military operation" that it says aims to destroy Ukraine's military infrastructure. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has blasted Russia's "absurd war."

Russia proposed the Security Council text after France and Mexico withdrew their own push for a council resolution on Ukraine's humanitarian situation because they said it would have been vetoed by Moscow. That draft would have criticized Russia for its role in creating the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

Ukraine and its allies are instead planning to put a similar draft resolution to a vote this week in the 193-member General Assembly where no country wields a veto. General Assembly resolutions are nonbinding, but they carry political weight.

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