By Emma Farge
GENEVA (Reuters) – Dozens of countries rallied behind Ukraine at a meeting at the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday, a day after the U.N. Security Council adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution that takes a neutral stance on the conflict.
The event, held to commemorate “resistance to the Russian aggression”, follows the resolution adopted in New York on the war’s third anniversary that reflects President Donald Trump’s upending of U.S. policy on Ukraine and his more conciliatory stance towards Russia.
“You are not alone. Norway and other countries, all the countries who are here, but also other countries, will continue to support you as you fight for your territorial integrity, your sovereignty and your human dignity,” Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik told a packed room of ministers and diplomats.
Thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died since Russia invaded in 2022 and more than 6 million are refugees abroad. Russia has said it had no choice but to launch what it calls its “special military operation” due to the NATO alliance’s eastwards expansion.
Estonia’s Minna-Liina Lind, Undersecretary for Global Affairs, told the room she was “extremely worried” by the fact that the Security Council passed a resolution that does not include long-held language on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“But I think the European resolve is even greater. When there’s someone else not as strong, the others fill in,” she told Reuters after the meeting, co-organised by Ukraine and Liechtenstein on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
The U.S. failed to convince the U.N. General Assembly to pass the same resolution that passed in the Security Council on Monday. The General Assembly instead adopted motions seen as more favourable for Ukraine, in a diplomatic victory over Washington.
Most countries attending the Geneva event were European and included France and Germany, but others such as Turkey, South Korea, Australia and Japan were also present. Washington sent a delegate who did not take the floor.
Ukraine’s ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko, who at one point became emotional while addressing the room, asked countries to continue their support for rebuilding Ukraine and seeking accountability for crimes committed since Russia’s invasion.
“The road ahead is very challenging but when we are united we can prevail,” she said.
(Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva; Editing by Nia Williams)
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