The United Nations General Assembly Wednesday approved a non-binding resolution condemning Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and demanding an immediate withdrawal, Al-Jazeera reported.
The vote saw 141 countries in favour, five against and 35 abstaining.
“People in Ukraine desperately need peace and people around the world demand it,” UN chief Antonio Guterres said in an interview after the vote.
Russia last week vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution that condemned its invasion of Ukraine.
Seven days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both countries are billed to continue talks on Thursday in Belarus, Russian news agencies cited Moscow’s negotiator Vladimir Medinsky as saying.
The first round of talks ended on Monday with no agreement except to keep talking.
Also, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, said “Ukraine has the capability and the technology to manufacture a nuclear weapon… The mission is clear to disarm Ukraine and not deploy and manufacture any weapons that threaten Russia’s security.”
Mr Lavrov added that Russia had made its requests clear.
“President Putin has repeatedly expressed our position, which our delegation conveyed in the talks with Ukraine in Belarus: Crimea is part of Russia; recognising the Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics within the borders of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk; the eradication of Nazism as was the case with Nazi Germany,” he said.
Ukraine’s emergency services said on Wednesday that more than 2,000 civilians had been killed since the invasion began last Thursday.
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