US refusing to co-sponsor UN motion backing Ukraine ahead of war anniversary, diplomats say

Name: Trump calls Ukraine’s Zelensky a dictator, tells him to move fast or lose his country
Uploaded: 2025-02-20T19:56:29.000Z
Duration: 2 min 17 s
Description: Trump calls Ukraine’s Zelensky a dictator, tells him to move fast or lose his country

Draft resolution, which a source said is being sponsored by more than 50 countries, demands Russian withdrawal from Ukraine

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Ukrainian servicemen fire a captured Russian howitzer in 2022. The war reaches its third anniversary on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Reuters

Published: 3:56am, 21 Feb 2025Updated: 2:25pm, 21 Feb 2025

The US was refusing to co-sponsor a draft UN resolution marking three years since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine that backs Ukraine’s territorial integrity and again demands Russia withdraw its troops, three diplomatic sources told Reuters, in a potential stark shift by Ukraine’s most powerful Western ally.

Washington has also objected to a phrase in a statement the Group of Seven major industrialised nations (G7) was planning to issue next week that would condemn Russian aggression, two other sources told Reuters.

The United States’ refusal to agree to language that has been regularly used by the UN and G7 since February 2022 comes amid a widening rift between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump.

Trump is trying to rapidly end the war in Ukraine and sent a team to hold talks with Russia this week in Saudi Arabia without the involvement of Kyiv.

02:17

Trump calls Ukraine’s Zelensky a dictator, tells him to move fast or lose his country

Ukraine’s allies have used the previous two February 24 anniversaries of the war to reiterate their condemnation of Russia’s invasion but this year it is unclear how the United States will approach it.

At the UN, countries can decide to co-sponsor a resolution up until a vote. The 193-member General Assembly was expected to vote on Monday, diplomats said. General Assembly resolutions were not binding but carried political weight, reflecting a global view on the war.

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US refusing to co-sponsor UN motion backing Ukraine ahead of war anniversary, diplomats say

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Draft resolution, which a source said is being sponsored by more than 50 countries, demands Russian withdrawal from Ukraine

Draft resolution, which a source said is being sponsored by more than 50 countries, demands Russian withdrawal from Ukraine