UN resolution highlights diplomatic shift as South Africa votes for Ukraine amid US retreat

25 Feb 2025

South Africa has voted for a UN General Assembly resolution demanding Russia respect Ukraine's territorial territory — but the US abstained

In an astonishing role reversal, South Africa has voted for a UN General Assembly resolution calling for Ukraine’s territorial integrity to be respected — while the US abstained from the vote because it considered the resolution too anti-Russian.

The unprecedented voting on Monday on three resolutions at the UN marking the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, largely reflected the Trump administration’s radical about-turn towards a position more sympathetic to Russia than Ukraine. This was as it launched direct negotiations with Moscow — excluding Ukraine and Europe — to seek a swift end to the war.

Under the previous administration of then president Joe Biden, the US strongly supported several UN General Assembly resolutions over the past three years that condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and called for a complete withdrawal of Russia’s forces.

South Africa abstained from all of those resolutions, refusing to condemn Russia’s aggression. This soured relations with Ukraine, the US and Europe, jeopardising Pretoria’s relationship with Washington in particular.

But Trump has turned US policy towards the war on its head, blaming Ukraine for starting the war and branding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJdf67PwmS8

On Monday, 24 February 2025, Ukraine submitted a comprehensive resolution similar to those of last year, strongly condemning Russian aggression. It was adopted by the General Assembly by 93 votes to 18 with 65 abstentions. But the US joined Russia and its allies in voting against it, and South Africa abstained. The US then countered with its own much shorter resolution that acknowledged “the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict” and “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia” — but never mentioned Moscow’s aggression.

But then France proposed three amendments to correct that. One amendment replaced the wording “the Russian Federation-Ukraine conflict” with “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation”.

Another amendment reaffirmed the UN General Assembly’s “commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders, extending to its territorial waters”.

A third amendment replaced “lasting peace between Ukraine and the Russian Federation” in the US resolution with “just, lasting and comprehensive peace between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, in line with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States”.

US abstains

The amendments were adopted, prompting the US to abstain from its own resolution, largely because the amendments had laid the blame for starting the war on Russia and suggesting it had violated Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

But South Africa voted for the amended resolution even though it had voted against the amendment referring to “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation”.

The US then submitted its unamended resolution to the UN Security Council where it passed with 10 votes for and five abstentions, becoming the first resolution on Ukraine to have been adopted since the start of the war in the council, which has otherwise been paralysed by differences between Russia and the West.

In a statement, Department of International Relations and Cooperation spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said: “South Africa voted in favour of a General Assembly resolution presented by the United States of America with amendments by the European Union, which:

Reiterates that the principal purpose of the United Nations, as expressed in the United Nations Charter, is to maintain international peace and security and to peacefully settle disputes.

Reaffirms the commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders, extending to its territorial waters.

Implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a just, lasting and comprehensive peace between Ukraine and Russia, in line with the UN Charter and the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States.

“South Africa continues to call for the urgent cessation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in order to prevent the further loss of life and the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure. Every effort must be made to de-escalate the conflict.

“South Africa remains firmly committed to the need for a peaceful and negotiated resolution of the conflict within a rules-based system centred on international law, including the respect for human rights, and the principles of the UN Charter. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states remain inviolable.

“Consequently, South Africa supports all efforts to bring the conflict to an end and welcomes all efforts to bring about negotiations. We remain steadfast in our commitment to peaceful resolution of the conflict through a negotiated settlement with all parties to the conflict having a seat at the table.

“We are at a point of inflection in this conflict with the urgency to seize the momentum towards a negotiated settlement.” DM

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