32 countries including Bangladesh abstain

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution that demands Russia leave Ukraine. Thirty-two countries including Bangladesh, India, China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka abstained from voting while seven countries including Russia voted against the resolution.

A total of 141 couNtries voted in favour of the resolution.

The UN General Assembly approved the non-binding resolution Thursday that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces, sending a strong message on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion that Moscow’s aggression must stop, reports AP.

The resolution, drafted by Ukraine in consultation with its allies, passed 141-7, with 32 abstentions.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the vote was more evidence that not only the West backs his country.

“This vote defies the argument that the global south does not stand on Ukraine’s side,” Kuleba said. “Many countries representing Latin America, Africa, Asia voted in favor.”

The General Assembly has become the most important UN body dealing with Ukraine because the Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, is paralyzed by Russia’s veto power. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, unlike Security Council resolutions, but serve as a barometer of world opinion.

The seven countries voting against Thursday’s resolution were Belarus, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, North Korea, Eritrea and Mali, which has developed close military ties with Russia. Amendments proposed by Belarus would have weakened or stripped much of the language but were resoundingly defeated.

The vote was slightly below the highest total for the five previous resolutions approved by the 193-member world body since Russia sent troops and tanks across the border into its smaller neighbour on Feb. 24, 2022. That tally, in an October resolution against Russia’s illegal annexations, won approval by 143 countries.

Foreign ministers and diplomats from more than 75 countries addressed the assembly during two days of debate, with many urging support for the resolution that upholds Ukraine’s territorial integrity, a basic principle of the UN Charter that all countries must subscribe to when they join the world organization.