UN Security Council approves US resolution calling for end to war in Ukraine

The UN Security Council adopted a US resolution on Monday calling for a swift peace in Ukraine. The text makes no reference to the country's territorial integrity and received a favorable vote from Moscow, a permanent member of this UN body.

The resolution, which "calls for an end to the conflict as soon as possible and calls for a lasting peace", received 10 votes in favor, including Russia, and none against.

The four European Union countries that currently sit on the Security Council - France (permanent member), Slovenia, Greece, Denmark - and the United Kingdom abstained.

The US ambassador to the United Nations on Monday welcomed what she called a "historic agreement."

Even before the vote, Russians and Europeans tried unsuccessfully to make changes to the final text. France even tried to postpone the vote, a proposal that received six votes in favor, three against and six abstentions.

Dorothy Shea, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said on Monday during the Security Council discussion that it was time to return the UN body to its original purpose: the maintenance of international peace and security, including the peaceful resolution of disputes.

The U.S. draft resolution “is elegant in its simplicity — a simple, symbolic first step toward peace,” she said, adding that the brief U.S.-drafted text echoes “the spirit of the United Nations Charter.”

The Security Council's unanimous decision on a resolution comes on the day that marks three years since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and hours after Washington voted alongside Moscow against a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly condemning the Russian invasion.

That resolution, vetoed by other countries including Russia, Belarus and North Korea, demanded that Moscow “immediately, completely and unconditionally” withdraw all its military forces from Ukraine.