President Joe Biden said Wednesday’s United Nations vote to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine showed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s isolation and “demonstrates the extent of global outrage at Russia’s horrific assault on a sovereign neighbor.”
In an emergency session of the U.N. General Assembly, 141 of 193 member states voted for the resolution, a symbolic move that condemns the invasion of Ukraine and reflects the growing global outrage as the war there rages on. The document calls for an immediate end to the invasion and for the protection of civilians and those delivering humanitarian aid.
Five countries voted against the resolution — Russia, Belarus, Syria, Eritrea and North Korea.
“An overwhelming majority of nations around the world condemn Putin’s war,” Biden said Wednesday. “An overwhelming majority of nations recognize that Putin is not only attacking Ukraine, he is attacking the very foundations of global peace and security — and everything the United Nations stands for.”
“And an overwhelming majority of the world recognizes that if we do not stand up to Putin’s Russia, it will only inflict further chaos and aggression on the world.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told the body on Wednesday that the resolution was essential because the U.N. was being “challenged” by Putin’s actions.
“If it has any purpose, it is to prevent war and to condemn war and to stop war,” she said before the vote. “That is our job here today.”
Biden took direct aim at the Kremlin’s misinformation war behind the invasion, saying the vote shows “the world is rejecting Russia’s lies.”
“We can all see what is happening in Ukraine with our own eyes,” he said. “Russia is responsible for the devastating abuses of human rights and the international humanitarian crisis that we are watching unfold in Ukraine in real time. There is no room for excuses or equivocation.”
“Russia is to blame.”