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UN General Assembly president says election outcomes will not alter its support for Ukraine

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UN General Assembly president says election outcomes will not alter its support for Ukraine
President of the 78th United Nations General Assembly Dennis Francis speaks during a special session of the UN General Assembly regarding the Palestinian bid for full membership to the UN, at UN headquarters in New York City on May 10, 2024. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.N. General Assembly will continue to support Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty regardless of the outcomes of national elections worldwide this year, the body's president said on July 3, adding that "no country has the right to invade another country."

That stance "cannot change because this is a matter of law," General Assembly President Dennis Francis said in an interview with The Associated Press during his first visit to Ukraine as the country battles Russia’s invasion for a third year.

The U.N.'s main policy-making body has shown strong support for efforts to uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty, he said. However, upcoming elections in the U.S. and several key European Union countries have raised concerns about potential shifts in policies among Western nations, whose military and financial support has been crucial for Ukraine in countering the Kremlin’s ambitions.

"It will be for us to witness over time what the implications of the results of those elections are for the entire international system and in particular for the state of Ukraine," Francis told The Associated Press.  

Francis met with Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, to discuss peace and international security. He pledged support for Zelensky’s peace plan, which was recently discussed at an international gathering in Switzerland attended by numerous countries and organizations, including the U.N.

"I think there are many important elements in (Zelensky’s plan) that can provide a foundation for dialogue when that time is appropriate," he said. "Let us see where it takes us."

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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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