UN Debate Will Test Countries' Views on Territorial Integrity

The U.N. General Assembly will convene today in a special session to debate draft resolution "Territorial Integrity of Ukraine: Defending the Principles of the Charter of the United Nations", a move that could reveal whether the Kremlin's international isolation is growing as its war in Ukraine grinds on.

"... [O]ur desire is that as many countries as possible join us in condemnation of Russia and their unlawful annexation of territory that is clearly, lawfully, legally Ukraine," State Department's principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told TURAN's Washington correspondent ahead of the discussion.

Moscow vetoed what would have been a legally binding UN Security Council resolution on Sept. 30 to condemn sham referenda in the 4 Ukrainian regions as illegal, and to urge all countries not to recognize any annexation of the territory claimed by Moscow. That has spurred a move to the UNGA — at Ukraine and Albania’s request — where no state has a veto.

"There are fundamental principles at stake here, and that's something that every country has a stake in," a senior U.S. administration official told reporters ahead of today's debate.

The emergency special session will resume at 11 p.m. Baku time,  where the U.S. officials said they "expect to hear a number of nations from around the world to clearly and loudly echo what the secretary general has unequivocally said last week: It’s illegal and simply unacceptable to attempt to redraw another country’s borders by force."

"It goes against everything the UN stands for," the senior official added.  "We expect that a number of Member States will sign up to take the floor, as we saw the last time this emergency special session was convened, and we expect the debate may well stretch into the following days of the week."

The debate will start today and is expected to stretch at least until Wednesday, if not beyond. At the conclusion of that debate, the resolution will be put to a vote.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.