New Delhi: The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Wednesday voted against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and passed a resolution demanding that Moscow withdraw its military forces and bring an end to the fighting.
The action, taken in a rare emergency session called by the UN Security Council, aims to diplomatically isolate Russia at the UN as the resolution text deplored Russia's "aggression against Ukraine".
According to the UN website, it was in 1982 that the UNSC convened an emergency session of the General Assembly.
UKRAINE-RUSSIA CONFLICT: FULL COVERAGE
The resolution was supported by 141 of the 193 UNGA members, while 35 nations, including India and China, abstained from voting and four countries supported the Russian action.
These four countries are Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea and Syria.
Belarus has served as a launchpad for Russian forces since the invasion of Ukraine started. On February 27, the country passed a referendum shedding its non-nuclear status, which will allow Russia to place its nuclear weapons in the country.
North Korea Monday blamed the "hegemonic policy" and "high-handedness" of the United States and the West for the situation in Ukraine.
The foreign ministry of the country said the West was guilty of "abuse of power". "The root cause of the Ukraine crisis totally lies in the hegemonic policy of the U.S. and the West, which enforce themselves in high-handedness and abuse of power against other countries," North Korea's official KCNA news agency quoted an unnamed ministry spokesperson, as reported by Reuters.
While Eritrea has remained largely quiet on the matter, like it has been on most international affairs, Syria has reportedly blamed the conflict on the eastward expansion of the US-led NATO military alliance. Russia had been opposing and resisting Ukraine's efforts to join NATO and eventually invaded the neighbouring country.