The US has twice joined Russia in United Nations votes to commemorate the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, showing the shift in the Trump administration’s policy on the war.
Initially, the US voted against a European-written UN resolution condemning Moscow’s aggression and upholding Ukraine’s sovereignty – alongside Russia and nations such as North Korea and Belarus at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
Subsequently, the US wrote and voted for a resolution at the UN Security Council that demanded a halt to the war but included no condemnation of Russia. The Security Council voted for the resolution, though two US allies, the UK and France, abstained following their efforts to modify the language being vetoed.
The UN resolutions were brought forward as French President Emmanuel Macron met President Donald Trump at the White House to bridge their quickened rift on the war. Thursday will see British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also visit the new US leader.
Trump’s White House has shaken the transatlantic alliance, appeasing Moscow and raising doubts about America’s long-term engagement in European security. That fissure was exposed on the 193-member UNGA floor on Monday as US envoys advanced their modest resolution expressing condolences over casualties in the “Russia-Ukraine conflict” and urging an early end to it.
European diplomats presented a more comprehensive text, accusing Russia of its all-out invasion, and in favour of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We have to reaffirm that the aggression must be condemned and discredited, not rewarded,” stated Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa.
UNGA members supported the European resolution by 93 votes but, remarkably, the US did not abstain but voted against it, as did Russia, Israel, North Korea, Sudan, Belarus, Hungary and 11 other countries, with 65 abstentions.
The UNGA also adopted the US resolution but only after it was modified to include wording in favour of Ukraine, which resulted in the US abstaining. Republican Senator John Curtis stated that he was “deeply troubled” by the vote “that placed us on the same side as Russia and North Korea“.
“These are not our friends. This stance is a stark contrast to American freedom and democracy ideals,” he tweeted on X. The vote was “in contradiction to our traditional backing of democracy”, former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Ukraine’s ex-minister of economy, Tymofiy Mylovanov, stated that the decision to align with Russia was intentional.
