KYIV, Ukraine — As Ukraine braced for a redoubled Russian offensive in the east and unearthed fresh evidence of atrocities outside its capital of Kyiv, the United Nations General Assembly sharply rebuked Moscow on Thursday by suspending it from the world body’s 47-member Human Rights Council.
The resolution to suspend Russia, spearheaded by the U.S., received 93 votes in favor, with 24 against and 58 abstentions. It needed a two-thirds majority of the “yes” or “no” votes cast.
Before the vote, the representatives of Ukraine and Russia had a brief but bitter exchange. The Ukrainian U.N. envoy, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said suspending Russia was a “duty” on the part of the world community in response to the atrocities that witnesses and independent journalists have uncovered around Kyiv in recent days. Russia denounced the measure as U.S.-inspired “human rights colonialism.”
