Barely a week had passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine when the United Nations General Assembly backed Kyiv with 141 out of 193 votes in early March and reaffirmed Ukraine's sovereignty in a resolution.
The message was loud and clear, Secretary General António Guterres said at the time.
“People in Ukraine urgently need peace.
And people all over the world are demanding it.”
Sofia Dreisbach
North American political correspondent based in Washington.
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So the bar is set high for the outcome of the vote on the resolution, which will occupy the UN General Assembly in New York this week.
193 member states are debating a draft resolution condemning the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia - as well as the previous mock referendums for the union with Russia.
Russia blocked a similar resolution in the United Nations Security Council at the end of September.
Of the 15 members of the panel, Russia voted no, while China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained.
In contrast, Moscow has no right of veto in the UN General Assembly.
According to its supporters, the resolution is intended to further isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin and make it clear that a further escalation of the war will only have more consequences for Russia internationally.
In contrast to those of the Security Council, however, the resolutions are not binding under international law.
Russia condemns draft resolution
A draft resolution seen by the AFP news agency condemned Russia's "attempted illegal annexations" of Ukraine's four regions after "so-called referendums".
These events have “no validity under international law”.
In an attempt to get as many votes as possible, the text of the resolution could change in the next few days.
A vote is expected by mid-week.
A two-thirds majority is required to pass the resolution.
In March, a total of 181 of the 193 members of the United Nations had voted: 141 yes, five no – North Korea, Eritrea, Belarus, Syria and Russia – and 35 abstained.
The remainder currently have no voting rights.
The Russian representative at the United Nations condemned the resolution as a "new anti-Russian" move.
The events in the Security Council already made it clear how deep the rifts are.
India, which abstained in March, declined to show its cards to the assembly “for reasons of caution and politics”.
Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock emphasized on Friday that every vote counts.
However, there are indications of another clear message from the UN General Assembly.
China and India, both of which have refrained from criticizing Russia, voted to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to speak remotely at the UN General Assembly in September.
Also for Brazil, which had abstained in the Security Council, Foreign Minister Carlos Alberto Franca said
it was important to continue efforts to end the war immediately.
In September, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the “remarkable unity among member states”.