A draft resolution proposed by Russia on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine was rejected by the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday night (23). Among other things, the document does not cite Russian responsibility in the humanitarian conflict provoked in the neighboring country.
Only Russia and China voted in favor, no country voted against and 13 nations, including the United States, abstained from voting. Nine votes in favor were needed for the document to be sanctioned. The vote has been postponed several times in the last week.
The resolution drafted by Russia calls for “a negotiated ceasefire to allow for a safe, speedy, voluntary and unimpeded evacuation of civilians”, in addition to the need for all “affected parties to agree to humanitarian pauses”.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russia was once again trying to use the Security Council to “cover its brutal actions”.
“It is really inconceivable that Russia would have the audacity to introduce a resolution asking the international community to resolve a human crisis that only Russia has created,” said Thomas-Greenfield.
“Russia doesn’t care about deteriorating humanitarian conditions or the millions of lives and dreams destroyed by the war. If they did, they would stop fighting.”
Russia urges respect for ‘humanitarian principles’
Several European countries used terms like “trap” and “mockery” to refer to the Russian text, which called for respect for “humanitarian principles”, condemned attacks on civilians and called for a negotiated ceasefire, among other things.
However, he made no reference to the invasion of Ukraine or the fact that Russian troops are the ones who have committed the most attacks against civilians, as confirmed by the UN itself.
Moscow circulated its proposal in response to an initiative by France and Mexico, which sought to pass a resolution on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, in which Russia was directly singled out.
After several rounds of negotiations, the French and Mexican delegations finally concluded that it was not possible to move forward with the text given the position of Russia, which has veto power in the Security Council.
Therefore, they decided to take their proposal to the UN General Assembly, which is currently debating the text, which will probably be voted on on Thursday (24).
With information from CNN International.
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