The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to demand Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine in a resolution passed the day before the first anniversary of its invasion of the neighboring country.
The resolution was adopted at an emergency special session of the deliberative organ of the United Nations. Of the 193 members, 141, including Japan, voted in favor, and seven against, with 32 abstentions.
The three-page document demands that Russia "immediately, completely, and unconditionally" remove its troops from Ukraine and deplores the high number of civilian casualties, including women and children, since the start of Russia's invasion on Feb. 24 last year.
It calls for a "just, sustainable, and lasting peace" in Ukraine and demands that those who have committed war crimes in the conflict be held to account.
The resolution also "calls for an immediate cessation of the attacks on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine and any deliberate attacks on civilian objects, including those that are residences, schools and hospitals."
U.N. member states "reiterated their unequivocal support (for) Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters after the vote.
Kuleba said the vote was proof that "it's not only the West who supports Ukraine, the support is much broader."
Belarus, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Syria voted against the resolution, while China and India abstained.
Speaking on Wednesday, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, called the resolution "anti-Russian and malevolent by nature."
In October, 143 members voted in favor of Ukraine in the General Assembly, adopting a resolution that condemned Russia's declaration of the annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
Resolutions of the assembly, unlike those passed by the Security Council, are not legally binding.
Representing Japan, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told Thursday's session that Russia should withdraw from Ukraine and if Moscow's aggression in the neighboring country is tolerated, it would set "a terrible precedent" for the rest of the world.
At the session, Russia ally Belarus introduced amendments that called on countries to stop arms exports to Ukraine and removed the text calling for Russia to withdraw its troops.
The amendments, which also included a call for the start of peace negotiations, were defeated by wide margins.
Speaking before the assembly, Dai Bing, deputy chief of the Chinese mission to the United Nations, called for a cease-fire and an end to the flow of military aid to Ukraine.
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