The UN General Assembly approved a Ukrainian resolution on Feb. 24 condemning Russia's full-scale invasion, with 93 countries voting in favor and 18 against.
The U.S., Israel, Hungary, Russia, and Belarus have voted against the resolution.
The resolution, drafted by Kyiv and supported by all EU states except Hungary, reaffirms Ukraine's territorial integrity. It explicitly names Russia as the aggressor.
On the same day, the General Assembly passed a separate U.S. resolution marking the third anniversary of the invasion. That resolution also received 93 votes in favor but avoided directly calling Russia the aggressor. Ukraine abstained from voting on the U.S. version.
According to Suspilne, Washington sent letters to UN member states urging them to support its resolution. The move aligns with recent U.S. efforts to soften language on Russia in international statements.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz both declined to explicitly name Russia as the aggressor in Fox News interviews. Hegseth referred to the war as "a very complicated situation" when asked if Russia attacked Ukraine unprovoked.
U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia while adopting increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Kyiv.
He recently called President Volodymyr Zelensky a "dictator" and falsely claimed Ukraine started the war — before later conceding that "Russia attacked, but they shouldn’t have let him attack."
The shift in U.S. language extends beyond the UN. The Financial Times reported that the U.S. opposed referring to Russia as the aggressor in a G7 statement commemorating the invasion's anniversary.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
(Updated: )
