US votes against UN resolution condemning Russia for Ukraine war
In an extraordinary move, the US sided with Russia and North Korea against the resolution condemning Moscow, marking a major diplomatic shift under President Trump.
The US sided with Russia and China to win the United Nations Security Council’s backing for a resolution crafted in Washington that didn’t blame Moscow for the Ukraine war and called for a swift end to the conflict, as President Trump said he was in talks with Russia about an economic-development deal.
Trump’s comments and the US’s vote at the U.N. on Monday illustrated the extent to which the president has changed the US’s posture toward the region, coming on the same day as European leaders gathered in Kyiv to mark the third anniversary of the invasion.
The United States voted today with Russia, North Korea, Belarus and 14 other Moscow-friendly countries, against a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calling for its occupied territories to be returned, which passed overwhelmingly in the U.N. General Assembly. pic.twitter.com/4JrCskS12f
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 24, 2025
Earlier on Monday, the General Assembly, which represents the 193 U.N. member states, had approved a Ukrainian resolution pinning the blame on Russia for the war, despite US efforts to kill it. The US was joined by North Korea, Russia and Belarus in voting against it.
Unlike the General Assembly, the 15-member U.N. Security Council has decision-making powers.
The US secured 10 votes from the Security Council in favour of its resolution. Five European countries abstained, including the U.K. and France, underscoring the widening gulf between Europe and the US over the Ukraine conflict.
France and Britain both have veto powers on the Security Council but were reluctant to use them against Washington, diplomats said.
French President Emmanuel Macron met with Trump at the White House on Monday, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to meet with Trump in Washington later this week.
The Biden administration took pride in leading Western powers in an alliance against Russian President Vladimir Putin, marshaling a far-reaching effort to punish Moscow through economic sanctions. Then-President Joe Biden emerged as a leading critic of Putin on the world stage and framed the conflict as one of democracy versus autocracy.
But Trump has positioned himself as a deal-maker willing to negotiate directly with Russia’s leader to end the war, and he suggested on Monday that he is willing to revive economic relations with Russia, potentially unravelling the Biden administration’s efforts.
He has also stressed that American taxpayers will benefit from his negotiations via access to mineral deposits.
Following a meeting at the White House on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump said that his administration is “making a decisive break” with Biden’s approach and is on the verge of inking an agreement with Ukraine that would provide the US with access to that country’s natural resources. Key to the deal, Trump said, is that US taxpayers can “recoup” some of the billions spent defending the Eastern European nation.
Macron, standing next to Trump at a news conference in the East Room of the White House, emphasised that any accord to end the war should include an expansive security guarantee for Ukraine and that he envisions peacekeepers on the ground to enforce it. He also suggested that Trump had agreed that the US would play some unspecified role in supporting a peacekeeping mission.
“Europeans are ready to engage to provide for these security guarantees — and now there’s a clear American message that the US, as an ally, is ready to provide that solidarity for that approach,” Macron said. “That’s a turning point, in my view, and that is one of the great areas of progress that we’ve made during this trip.”
The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment about whether Trump has committed to provide US military or logistical support for a security guarantee.
Earlier on Monday, Washington’s attempt to kill off a Ukrainian resolution blaming Russia for the war failed with the U.N.’s General Assembly, a body that represents all 193 U.N. member states, approving the resolution.
The US ended up abstaining on its own competing resolution after the brief text, which focused purely on calls to end the conflict, was amended by the Europeans to clearly support Ukraine.
The US refused to accept any amendments to its resolution at the Security Council later Monday.
Trump declined to answer a reporter’s question about why the US didn’t endorse the resolution that blamed Russia for the war. “I would rather not explain it now, but it’s sort of self-evident, I would think,” he said in the Oval Office on Monday.
US officials have said the priority now is to craft a peace deal and its resolution was aimed at that goal, not to past events.
A host of Western leaders gathered in Kyiv on Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. A total of 14 delegations gathered in Ukraine’s capital, including leaders of the European Union, and presidents and prime ministers of Western countries. Dozens of leaders of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and Group of Seven countries also participated in a plenary session by video.
Macron, who was at the White House for talks with Trump and his advisers on Ukraine, described Russia as the “aggressor” in Ukraine, a contrast with Trump advisers, who have avoided blaming Moscow for starting the three-year-old war.
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