US opposes Ukraine territorial integrity in UN vote

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UN members backed a resolution supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity Monday, facing down staunch opposition from Washington which pushed its own language that declined to blame Russia for the war or mention Kyiv's borders.

The resolution, which won 93 votes in favour and 18 against with 65 abstentions -- a drop in support compared to previous resolutions supporting Ukraine -- reaffirmed the UN Assembly's "commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine."

Washington sided with Moscow to join 16 others voting against.

A rival US resolution calling for a "swift end" to the Ukraine conflict but omitting any mention of Kyiv's territorial integrity, did not win support from UN General Assembly members.

The assembly amended it so heavily that Washington abstained when the reworked text came to a vote.

Russian ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia had called the unedited US text "a step in the right direction" amid a dramatic thaw between Russia and the United States under President Donald Trump.

But France put forward a series of amendments to the US text telling the General Assembly that Paris, along with European countries and Britain, would "not be able to support in its current form."

The countries, all backers of Ukraine, pushed to reword the US text to say that the "full-scale invasion of Ukraine" has been undertaken by Russia.

It also reaffirmed a commitment to Ukraine's "territorial integrity" -- which had been omitted from the US text.

The inviolability of Ukrainian territorial integrity was a cornerstone of previous resolutions passed by the Assembly, with the US under former president Joe Biden among its strongest supporters.