Rhode Island’s Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on Monday called the opposition of the United States to a United Nations resolution condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine “a disgrace.”
The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly passed the resolution on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at U.N. headquarters in New York: 93 in favor to 18 against, with 65 abstentions. The resolution was titled “Advancing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s European allies voted to support the resolution. Member states voting no along with the U.S. included Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Israel and Hungary.
“This vote is a disgrace,” Whitehouse said in a statement. “Trump’s senseless betrayal of the alliances that have kept Americans safe since World War II and his fealty to the murderous aggressor (Russian President Vladimir) Putin are a national security threat.”
Whitehouse returned last week from co-leading a bipartisan delegation to the Munich Security Conference, where the delegation met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A competing U.S.-introduced resolution titled “The path to peace” called for a swift end to the war and efforts to achieve a “lasting peace between Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” omitting any reference to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine or Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. But the U.S. then abstained from voting on the resolution after amendments were made to the text. The resolution passed with 93 in favor, eight against and 73 abstaining.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
