US proposal to UN on Ukraine makes no mention of 'occupied territory'
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Washington’s latest text calls for a “swift end to the conflict” but makes no mention of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
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Flags fly outside the United Nations headquarters during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024 (AP)
The United States on Friday proposed a United Nations resolution on the Ukraine conflict that omits any reference to Ukrainian territories controlled by Russia, AFP reported, citing diplomatic sources.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged UN member states to support what he described as a "simple, historic" resolution.
.@POTUS is committed to ending the Russia-Ukraine war. On Monday, three years since the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S. will propose to the United Nations a landmark resolution the entire @UN membership should support in order to chart a path to peace. https://t.co/qf0dLYfmAj
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) February 22, 2025
Washington’s proposal comes amid escalating disputes between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, with the US president asserting that his Ukrainian counterpart's involvement in peace negotiations is “not important”.
The US draft also appears to rival a separate resolution put forward by Ukraine and its European allies, which emphasizes the urgency of diplomatic efforts to end the war this year, reiterates Russia’s responsibility for the war, and reaffirms Ukraine’s "territorial integrity". It also echoes previous UN General Assembly resolutions demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Russian forces.
Past votes on similar resolutions have garnered broad support, with approximately 140 of the 193 UN member states voting in favor.
Washington’s latest text, seen by AFP, calls for a “swift end to the conflict” but makes no mention of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The resolution was welcomed by Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, as a “good move", though he noted it fails to address the "roots" of the war.
"The United States has proposed a simple, historic resolution in the United Nations that we urge all member states to support in order to chart a path to peace," Rubio said in a statement Friday, without elaborating on the resolution’s contents.
Unlike previous resolutions backed by Washington, this draft—tabled ahead of a General Assembly session marking the war’s third anniversary—does not criticize Moscow. Instead, the 65-word text begins by "mourning the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict" and reiterates the UN’s role in maintaining "international peace and security" without attributing responsibility for the war.
France’s UN ambassador, Nicolas De Riviere, the European Union’s only permanent Security Council member, declined to comment.
"A stripped-down text of this type that does not condemn Russian aggression or explicitly reference Ukraine's territorial integrity looks like a betrayal of Kyiv and a jab at the EU, but also a show of disdain for core principles of international law," said Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group.
"I think even a lot of states that favor an early end to the war will worry that the US is ignoring core elements of the UN Charter."
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