Reaffirming Ukraine’s Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity at the UN

The UN General Assembly will convene soon to discuss Russia’s planned annexation of four Ukrainian regions. With many non-Western states wary of taking sides, Ukraine’s friends would be wise to seek affirmation of sovereignty and territorial integrity principles rather than condemnation of the Kremlin.

Crisis Group Commentary

The UN General Assembly will meet in the second week of October to debate Russia’s attempt to annex the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia. Assembly members will also vote on a resolution, tabled by Ukraine and its allies, rejecting Russia’s move. The resolution is a chance for UN members to reaffirm Ukraine’s sovereignty within its internationally recognised borders – and also the UN Charter’s clause prohibiting “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”.

These basic principles of international law may sound simple enough, but the vote will also be a test of how non-Western states view the seven-month-old conflict. As the war has dragged on, Russia has tried to persuade African, Asian and Latin American states that Moscow is their natural ally. In a 30 September speech at the ceremony marking Russia’s purported annexations, President Vladimir Putin claimed to be engaged in an “anti-colonial” struggle with the West. Ukraine’s allies have made the same argument in reverse, painting Russia as an imperialist and colonialist power. The forthcoming UN vote will give some indication of which narrative has found greater traction. But only some: many non-Western countries do not want to take either side in this crisis – numerous speakers at the mid-September high-level session of the General Assembly called simply for an end to the war – making the diplomatic manoeuvring around the resolution that much more sensitive and difficult.

Ukraine and its friends at the UN should not frame this resolution as a test of non-Western powers’ loyalties, lest that tactic backfire, with nervous UN members opting to abstain. Instead, the resolution’s backers should make it clear that their text aims primarily to restate and reinforce the UN Charter’s core principles. That will be a rebuke for Russia, showing that its effort to recast its war of aggression as an anti-colonial project has fallen flat............To Read More....

My Take - Clearly this is an attempt to thwart Putin's claim the areas he's conquered want to be part of Russia and have voted that way, which then leaves him the excuse to use tactical nuclear arms "in defense of Russia".  Will this pass?  Considering just how corrupt this body is, it's most likely this will no more pass than did the effort to investigate China's murderous human rights abuses against the Uighur Muslims in China.