UN General Assembly again censures Russia for war, calls for immediate end

Russia was dealt a second major defeat by the international community on Thursday when the UN General Assembly again voted to denounce its war on Ukraine and called for an immediate end.

A total of 140 nations voted to censure Russia after one day of debates, with one less nation voting to do so compared to an earlier vote on March 2.

As with the prior vote, five nations, including Russia, North Korea, Syria, Belarus and Eritrea, voted "no." In all, 38 nations abstained.

The vote, which comes on the one-month anniversary of Russia's war, is the second time the General Assembly has directly named Russia as the aggressor.

It specifically calls out the "aggression against Ukraine," and demands an "immediate cessation of the hostilities by the Russian Federation against Ukraine." It also "welcomes and urges the continued efforts by the Secretary-General, UN Member States, agencies and the international community to deliver humanitarian assistance."

A competing draft resolution introduced by South Africa that did not name Russia as the aggressor failed to clear a procedural hurdle and did not come up for a vote. That text had the Kremlin's backing.

Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's UN envoy, sharply denounced the South African text in an emotional appeal to member states, describing it as a "shame" and a "twin brother of the defunct Russian draft" resolution that was roundly rejected Wednesday by the Security Council.

"It's a fresh paint on the moldy rotten structure of the assembly where the paint isn't actually paint, but the blood of Ukrainian children, women and defenders," he said in the General Assembly Hall, referring to South Africa's text.

Speaking after the resolution was rejected, Russia said there was "no point" in explaining its opposition to the Ukrainian-backed resolution, "because it was put forward exclusively to condemn Russia, and to apply different labels to us."

"The political considerations won over. The draft resolution doesn't compensate for what's actually happening on the ground," said Moscow's UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia.

Despite Russia's stalwart opposition, the US, which strongly backed Ukraine's text, hailed its passage as a moment of global unity "in the face of President (Vladimir) Putin's unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine."

"Together, a strong majority of UN member states made clear that Russia bears sole responsibility for the grave humanitarian crisis and violence in Ukraine," said US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Russia began its war Feb. 24. It has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 977 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,594 injured, according to UN estimates, while cautioning that the true figure is likely far higher.

More than 3.6 million Ukrainians have also fled to neighboring countries, according to the UN refugee agency.