On 24 February, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution marking the fourth anniversary of Russia’s all-out aggression against Ukraine, calling for an immediate ceasefire and a just peace. Of the body’s 193 members, 107 voted in favour and twelve against. The vote, coming one year after a row between the U.S. and its European allies over a similar resolution, was a test of Ukraine’s ability to muster global backing. While the headline result was satisfying for Kyiv, the detailed picture was mixed. The U.S. tried to weaken the text, and then abstained from the vote, as did Hungary, the most Russia-friendly state in the European Union. Major non-Western countries and most Arab nations sat on their hands.

 Ukraine and Russia have squared off at the General Assembly since the Crimea crisis in 2014. In March 2022, as Russia assaulted Kyiv, Ukraine, the EU and the U.S. corralled 141 countries to back a resolution calling on Moscow to withdraw Russian forces and reaffirming Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence within its internationally recognised borders. The same number supported a similar text on the war’s one-year anniversary, though many members signalled a desire for a negotiated peace.

In 2025, the Trump administration shocked Ukraine and its European allies by asking the Ukrainian delegation to withdraw a text marking the war’s third anniversary that repeated the Assembly’s past condemnations of Russia. The U.S. introduced drafts in both the Assembly and Security Council calling for a rapid peace and making no mention of Ukraine’s sovereignty. In the ensuing diplomatic melée, Ukraine secured 93 votes for its own resolution in the Assembly, while European diplomats added amendments to the U.S. Assembly text on Russia’s aggression and Ukraine’s territorial integrity that led Washington to abstain on its own resolution. The U.S. did drive its preferred draft through the Security Council.

This year, all sides seemed to want less friction. European officials worried that a resolution that secured a thin majority would look like a flop. Ukraine and the EU tabled a much shorter text. The U.S. pitched an unsuccessful last-minute proposal to delete two paragraphs affirming Ukraine’s sovereign rights, which only eleven countries – including Russia – backed.

The increase in votes for the Ukrainian text compared to 2025 was in significant part thanks to a greater number of Latin American countries backing this year’s text after considerable European lobbying. By contrast, all Arab countries other than Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia abstained or did not vote. The Arab group generally backed Kyiv in the Assembly in 2022 and 2023, but it withdrew support out of disappointment with the West’s response to the Gaza war. Other abstainers included Brazil, China, India and Indonesia. While China and India have never backed Ukraine’s resolutions, Brazil and Indonesia have sometimes done so. 

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the vote is that a large part of the UN membership still sees Russia’s war in Ukraine as an attack on core UN Charter principles, including sovereignty and non-aggression, and is willing to say so.