On August 26, the Russian Embassy in Turkey claimed that international support for Ukraine at the United Nations has declined since Russian forces attacked on February 24.
The claim, in an embassy tweet, followed a U.N. Security Council meeting on the six-month anniversary of the invasion.
The tweet read:
“On March 2, 2022, 141 countries voted in favor of the UN's draft resolution on Ukraine. Kiev's anti-Russian statement at the UN on August 25, 2022, was supported by only 54 out of 193 states.”
That’s false.
First, back on March 2, 141 states among the 193-member U.N. General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Fast forward to August 24. During the Security Council meeting that day, 57 U.N. member states plus the European Union issued a joint statement condemning Russia again on the six-month anniversary of its invasion.
That joint statement reiterated the March 2 resolution’s demand that Russia cease hostilities and withdraw its troops.
For reasons unknown, the Russian embassy’s tweet referred to Ukraine’s “anti-Russian statement at the UN on August 25.”
But there was no U.N. meeting about Ukraine on August 25, and the joint statement was supported not by 54 states, but 57 states plus the European Union.
During the August 24 meeting, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Valsily Nebenzya, seemingly contradicting the view of the Russian Embassy in Turkey, referred to the “unfailing support of Western delegations for any actions of the Kyiv regime.”
That sounds more like solidarity than an erosion of support. Given the ever-rising volume of Western arms and other aid flowing to Ukraine, Nebenzya appears to have it right.
What else happened at the U.N. on August 24?
Russia lost a vote to prevent Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from delivering a video speech to the Security Council. Of the council’s 15 member states, 13 voted in favor of Zelenskyy’s address, while China abstained.
Only Russia voted against the speech.
“In order to build the future, it is necessary to leave in the trash box of history what has always prevented humanity from living in peace, namely aggression and colonial ambitions. That is, what Russia came to Ukraine with,” Zelenskyy told the Security Council. "Our independence is your security."
Here is another way to measure support for Ukraine.
In March 2014, after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution in embrace of Ukraine’s territorial integrity by 100 to 11, with 58 member states abstaining and 24 not voting.
By comparison, that March 2022 vote condemning the new invasion passed 141 to 5, with 35 abstentions and 12 not voting.
That’s a 41 percent increase in U.N. members voting for Ukraine’s independence – and yes, against Russia.