US refuses to co-sponsor UN motion backing Ukraine territorial integrity

The US is refusing to co-sponsor a draft UN resolution marking three years since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine that backs Kyiv’s territorial integrity and condemns Russian aggression, three diplomatic sources told Reuters, in a potential stark shift by Ukraine’s most powerful Western ally. 

The step appears to mirror a widening rift between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump, who is trying to rapidly end the war in Ukraine and whose team has held talks with Russia without the involvement of Kyiv. 

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

 

The draft resolution for the UN General Assembly, seen by Reuters, condemns Russian aggression and reaffirms a commitment “to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders”. 

“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.