The United Nations General Assembly condemned Russia’s annexation of parts of eastern Ukraine in a symbolic vote that nonetheless exceeded western expectations for how much support the measure would receive.
The General Assembly voted 143-5, with 35 nations including India and China abstaining, to approve the western-backed resolution, which opposed Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of the four regions. The vote was a strong indication of how isolated Russia has become over its invasion and decision to absorb the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhya.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the 143-5 vote denouncing the annexation of Ukrainian territory had a practical effect of showing that “Ukraine’s borders remain the same” in the eyes of the world.
She said the vote showed how the international community “soundly rejected the affront to territorial integrity, to national sovereignty, to peace and security.”
