Local residents carry humanitarian aid delivered by Russian soldiers during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
UNITED NATIONS, March 23 – A Russian-penned call for access to aid and civil protection in Ukraine, which fails to mention Moscow’s role in the crisis, foundered at the UN Security Council on Wednesday, with only Russia and China voted yes and the remaining 13 members abstained.
“If Russia took care of the humanitarian situation, it would stop bombing children and end its siege tactics. But they haven’t,” British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward told the council after the vote. Russia denies attacking civilians.
A Security Council resolution needs at least nine yes votes and no veto by Russia, China, Britain, France or the United States to pass. Russia’s UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya accused those who abstained on Wednesday “for political reasons”.
Explaining China’s yes vote, Ambassador Zhang Jun said Beijing has a “strong expectation” that an immediate ceasefire should be reached, but that the council “should also respond positively and pragmatically to the humanitarian crisis” while calling for an end of struggles urged and constructive.”
China abstained in a Security Council vote last month on a draft resolution that would have deplored Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, a move seen by Western countries as a victory because it demonstrates Russia’s isolation. Russia vetoed the resolution. Continue reading
Moscow last Friday scrapped a planned Council vote on a draft aid resolution after accusing Western countries of an “unprecedented pressure campaign” against the measure. The United States denied Russia’s accusation. Continue reading
“Russia alone is to blame for the war in Ukraine,” US 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.”
Diplomatic skirmishes have escalated ever since Russia launched a so-called “military special operation” aimed at destroying Ukraine’s military infrastructure. UN chief Antonio Guterres has blasted Russia’s “absurd war”.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Russia proposed the Security Council text after France and Mexico withdrew their own push for a Council resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, saying Moscow had vetoed it. This draft would have criticized Russia for its role in creating the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
Instead, Ukraine and its allies plan to put a similar draft resolution to a vote this week in the 193-seat General Assembly, where no country will veto it. General Assembly resolutions are non-binding but carry political weight.
Thomas-Greenfield told the General Assembly earlier Wednesday: “Abstaining in light of Russia’s atrocities is unacceptable. Russia must be held accountable for the humanitarian crisis it is causing.”
South Africa has submitted a competing draft text on the same subject to the General Assembly, which makes no mention of Russia.
The Ukraine-led draft currently has 88 co-sponsors and South Africa’s draft about six, including China, diplomats said.
Nebenzia accused Ukraine and its allies of “another political anti-Russian show” at Wednesday’s General Assembly, urging countries to vote for the South African draft, saying it would “send a signal to the peaceful people of Ukraine that its The United Nations is aware of their situation and wants to help.”
Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya appealed to the UN General Assembly: “We ask all those who are against the war to vote with us.”
Ukraine and its allies are trying to improve the 141 yes votes cast to adopt a March 2 General Assembly resolution deploring Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine and calling for its withdrawal. Russia, Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea and Syria voted no, while 35 countries – including China – abstained. Continue reading
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Edited by Leslie Adler and Rosalba O’Brien