English
Macedonia today joined the United States in sponsoring a UN resolution calling for an end to the war in Ukraine. The resolution was submitted to the UN General Assembly also co-sponsored by Israel, Hungary and Georgia.
It was submitted on the third anniversary of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, along with another resolution sponsored by the European Union countries, some of whose leaders went to Kiev today. The brief US sponsored resolution originally did not include a condemnation of the Russian invastion or affirmation of the Ukrainian territorial integrity. These clauses were added subsequently, on request from some of the EU countries. After it was modified, the resolution received 93 votes in favor, eight countries were opposed and 73 – including the US, Macedonia, Hungary and Georgia – abstained. The original text of the resolution was then put before the Security Council where it won 10 votes in favor, including from the US, Russia and China, and five countries – including the permament members France and the UK – abstained.
The EU sponsored resolution was put before the UN General Assembly and it also won 93 votes in favor, with 65 countries – including Macedonia abstaining, and the United States, Russia and Hungary were among the 18 countries who voted against it.
We decided to be co-sponsors of the resolution proposed by the United States, Prime Minister Mickoski said, adding that this move will not reflect on Macedonia’s relations with Germany, given that Berlin and Paris have submitted their own resolution. The Macedonian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that with the resolution Macedonia “affirms its strong support for Ukraine, continues to condemn the aggression of the Russian Federation and expresss strong solidarity with the Ukrainian people and its efforts to fully protect its territorial integrity, sovereignty, independence, freedom and democracy. In this regard, we took into consideration the current strong efforts of the United States President and the American administration to end the military activities between Ukraine and Russia as soon as possible, with effective and direct negotiations whose goal is to achieve lasting peace and security in Ukraine and the wider region as soon as possible”.
President Trump was meeting French President Macron in the White House as the vote was going on, and were joined online by the other G7 heads. Trump said that the war never would have started if he remained President for a second consecutive term, and that now the US and Ukraine are close to a deal on Ukraine’s mineral rights, while talks with Russia “concerning the ending of the War” are also going very well.
