US refusing to co-sponsor UN motion backing Ukraine, diplomats say

The U.S. is refusing to co-sponsor a draft U.N. resolution marking three years since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine that backs Ukraine's territorial integrity and again demands Russia withdraw its troops, three diplomatic sources told Reuters, in a potential stark shift by Ukraine's most powerful Western ally.

Washington has also objected to a phrase in a statement the Group of Seven nations was planning to issue next week that would condemn Russian aggression, two other sources told Reuters.

The U.S. refusal to agree to language that has been regularly used by the U.N. and G7 since February 2022 comes amida widening rift between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump is trying to rapidly end the war in Ukraine and sent a team to hold talks with Russia this week in Saudi Arabia without the involvement of Kyiv.

Ukraine's allies have used the previous two Feb. 24 anniversaries of the war to reiterate their condemnation of Russia's invasion but this year it is unclear how the United States will approach it.

At the U.N. countries can decide to co-sponsor a resolution up until a vote. The 193-member General Assembly is due to vote on Monday, diplomats said. General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry political weight, reflecting a global view on the war.

"In previous years, the United States has consistently co-sponsored such resolutions in support of a just peace in Ukraine," one of the sources, who like the others requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said on Thursday.

More than 50 countries backing Ukraine

The first diplomatic source told Reuters that the resolution was being sponsored by more than 50 countries, declining to identify them.

A second diplomatic source who also requested anonymity said: "For now, the situation is they (the U.S.) won't sign it." Efforts are ongoing to seek support from other countries instead, including the Global South, the source added.

A spokesperson for the U.S. diplomatic mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not respond to a request for comment.

The G7 is planning to hold a call on Monday, three sources told Reuters, but so far the U.S. is objecting to language on "Russian aggression". A statement issued by G7 foreign ministers last week contained no mention of Russian aggression but did refer to "Russia's devastating war in Ukraine".

The row is a major political crisis for Ukraine, which has used tens of billions of dollars of U.S. military aid agreed under the previous U.S. administration to weather Russia's invasion and also benefited from diplomatic support.

The draft U.N. resolution, seen by Reuters, "calls for a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine ... in line with the U.N. Charter and international law".

It also "recalls the need for full implementation of its relevant resolutions adopted in response to the aggression against Ukraine, in particular its demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders".

Russia has seized some 20% of Ukraine and is slowly but steadily gaining territory in the east. Moscow said its "special military operation" responded to an existential threat posed by Kyiv's pursuit of NATO membership. Ukraine and the West call Russia's action an imperialist land grab.