The Nepal Weekly 
February 25, 2025
On the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.N. General Assembly is likely to vote Monday on dueling resolutions – Ukraine’s European-backed proposal demanding an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from the country and a U.S. call for a swift end to the war that never speaks about Moscow’s aggression.
The United States pressured the Ukrainians to withdraw their nonbinding resolution in favor of its proposal, a U.S. official and a European diplomat said Sunday. But Ukraine refused, and it will be put to a vote in the 193-nation assembly, two European diplomats said. All spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
It’s a reflection of the tensions that have sparked between the U.S. and Ukraine after President Donald Trump suddenly started negotiations with Russia in a bid to quickly end the war. It also underscores the strain in the transatlantic alliance with Europe over the Trump administration’s extraordinary turnaround on engagement with Moscow. European leaders were dismayed that they and Ukraine were left out of preliminary talks last week.
In escalating rhetoric, Trump has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator,” falsely accused Kyiv of starting the war and warned that he “better move fast” to negotiate an end to the conflict or risk not having a nation to lead. Zelenskyy responded by saying Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space.”
Since then, the Trump administration not only declined to endorse Ukraine’s U.N. resolution, but at the last minute proposed its own competing resolution and pressed its allies to support that version instead. It comes ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposed visit to Washington on Monday.
The U.S. also wanted a vote on its proposal in the more powerful U.N. Security Council. China, which holds the council presidency this month, has scheduled it for Monday afternoon.
The General Assembly has become the most important U.N. body on Ukraine because the 15-member Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has been paralyzed by Russia’s veto power. There are no vetoes in the assembly, and the Ukraine resolution, which is co-sponsored by all 27 members of the European Union, is almost certain to be adopted. Its votes are closely monitored as a barometer of world opinion, but the resolutions passed there are not legally binding, unlike those adopted by the Security Council.
